May Day....Yard sale kind of day

I went to my friend, Betty Ann's this morning to watch the Middleboro Nemasket River Canoe race, and  another good friend, Shirley joined us. We sat and cheered everyone on and wished them... Good Luck!

Betty Ann lives right on the Nemasket River. The weather was very sunny and warm, a perfect day for the canoe race.
The race participants have to portage their canoe's out of the water from one side of the bridge to the other. They carry their canoe's cross the street, and then reenter the river at the edge of my friends property.  The race has several categorises to compete in..singles, mixed couples, youth, doubles, women and kayaks.

Photo below...Reentering the River for the final leg of the canoe race.

Here is a picture of one of the couples after they rentered the river.

When the race was over we headed off to a giant yard sale that benefits the Middleboro High School scholarship fund. We got to the sale late, and so it was mostly picked over. You could fill a  plastic shopping bag for $1.00. I filled two bags. I found some craft books and magazines at one booth. At another booth I picked up some kitchen ware, and also some taller glass pieces to use for garden totems.

I still need to find some more glass.

We started to head for home when we saw another sign for a yard sale further up the street. Betty Ann asked me if I wanted to stop. My answer was ....of course!

 I am so glad we stopped, as the prices were very reasonable.

As I was looking at the tables of items for sale, I found a cabinet card of a baby girl. There was also a container that had  some old lace, linens, crocheted doilies, and other hand made  pieces. I bought some lace and a small crocheted doily.

I also picked up some floral water colored old tally cards with tassels. The cards have embellishment's made from tiny shells. I spent a total of a dollar. Awesome!!!!

Here are some photos of my finds of the day. I can't wait to alter them or use the pieces and the baby photo in an art project. I will post pictures when I complete a project using my new treasures.

tally cards on doily, and baby girl cabinet card

closeup of cabinet card photograph

assorted vintage lace I found

All in all I had a marvelous May Day. Don't you just love my lovely finds at the yard sale?

Last night we celebrated my mother's 87th birthday. I gave her a party at their home. Approximately 40 guest shared the evening. The buffet table was over laden with a wonderful assortment of delicious food. Here are a few picture's I took.

my parents..Dad 91 1/2, and Mom 87

they look great for their age, don't you think?

my oldest son, Tommy holding my niece Trish's twin boys

Kyle and Cody.

(L) my granddaughter Katie's friend and (R) Katie.

Katie is Tommy's daughter

All in all...it has been a great weekend so far. Tomorrow is suppose to be in the 80's again.
My lilacs are just starting to open, and they smell heavenly.
I hope you are enjoying your weekend as much as I am mine.
Thanks for visiting. Leave a note and come back to visit soon.

Tag You're It!

Well, as I mentioned before I hadn't rubber stamped in a very long while. I am just starting to enjoy the hobby again that I was obsessed with for many years. I'm finding I lost my creative muse along the way, and to complete the simplest card or  tag  is hard for me at the moment.
Anyway, since it was a gray and rainy kind of day I decided I would get out the ink pads, stamps, papers and embellishments to see if any creative thoughts or ideas popped into my head.
These two tags are my creations for the day.

Photo birthday cards for my hubby and mother

Tomorrow, April 27th is my husband, Tom's 65th birthday. Wow, he is officially a senior citizen. I wanted to make a special card for Tom. So, I dug thru some photo's from a Florida vacation of Tom holding a barracuda he caught in the flats of Coco Plum Beach, Florida Keys.
Tom loves fishing in the Keys, esecially for bone fish. I decided to make him a card with one of the fish he caught and released.
It scares me when he wades into the water going out chest deep to fish, and the barracuda, small sharks, and big rays swim up very close to him. Too scary for me.
He fishes and I beachcomb for shells and other treasures. As I walk the beach I also watch the shorebirds.

My mother's 87th birthday is the day after Tom's, on April 28th.  This is the card that I created for her special day. I took this photo of my mother a few years back at their winter home in Florida.

Happy Birthday to the both of you with all my love.

Easy Peasy cards that I made this morning

These cards were super easy to put together. It took longer to chose and cut the paper than to assemble the cards together. I used scrapbook papers from my DCWV Mariposa stack for the base cards and the top layer. I've had that paper stack for several months, because I just had to have it, and now I have finally used some of the pretty paper.
The moths/butterflies are stickers from K&C company. The ribbon is a sheer dark fern green. The Butterflies and Moths card with ribbon is still blank inside as I haven't decided what I want to use that card for. I needed a Happy Birthday card so that is what I stamped on the other card. Fun and super easy to put together.

ATC's that I made last night

Yesterday I made a card for a swap, and it felt good to sit down and create a piece of art. So, I cut up some Strathmore water color paper and made some ATC's as they are fast and easy to make. I used the Marisposa scrapbook papers, piece of an old book, stamped and added a charm and glitzy stones.

the atc's above...the woman and saying were stamped, colored with pencil, sponged background. The Spring Flowers I took plain newsprint and heat embossed the flower with clear ink, and then sprayed the paper with Adirondack inks. Let the ink dry, and rubber stamped and then added tiny yellow buttons to the flowers centers.
I use to love humorous stamping...always made me laugh although many didn't get my sense of humor. :-)

Ribbon binding journal

Years ago in a swap we made handmade journals, and I received a journal that had ribbons tucked thru signatures and I thought it was so very different and pretty. I love making handmade books, and I decided to make one of the journals with the ribbon binding. I made this journal quite sometime ago, but I saw one something like it on a blog today so I thought I would upload the book that I created. I think I should make some more of these pretty little books. I would love to do a handmade book swap again. I love making books, but then I never seem to use the books that I make. I just put them in a drawer. :-(
Anyone else have that same problem?

Pear Card

I use to rubber stamp all the time, but in the past few years I've hardly used my rubber stamps at all.  Recently, I  made rubber stamped postcards for a swap. After finishing my stamped postcards I decided  I should dig out my stamps and get back to stamping.
I made a card for an monthly lottery that the theme was Pears. The background colors on the card are not as muted as seen here.
The brown cardstock base card is stamped in sepia ink with an Art Impressions brick/wall background stamp.
On the background card is a piece of  scrapbook paper with writing on it. The next layer is some of the painted dryer sheets that I had left over from another project that I did earlier this year. I then layered a painted and stamped matboard tile with the stamped pear. The stamp of the pear is from A Stamp in the Hand and colored directly onto the stamp with Marvy markers. I hadn't used that technique in a very long time and was surprised to find that some of my markers still were usable and hadn't dried out.
To finish my card I added some chucnky copper glitter. I had fun creating the card, and I guess I should use my stamps more often.

Spiral beaded bracelet giveaway...And the winner of the bracelet is.....

 One of my spiral beaded bracelets will find a new home with Barbara Hagarty. Barbara..what size wrist do you have, and what color do you want? Check the original blog note.
 I hope you enjoy wearing your new bracelet.

My daughter in law, Robin's baby shower

My youngest son, Steven and his wife Robin are expecting their first child, a girl. This baby is really a miracle, because Steven almost died from cancer when he was 25. The doctors told him he would never have children from all the chemo treatments, bone marrow transplant, and surgeries that he went thru.
So, when Steven and Robin learned they were expecting everyone was so very excited for them.

Yesterday Robin's mom, Addie, her sister, Bernadette and I hosted a baby shower for Robin at the Mitchell Club in Middleboro. My oldest son, Tommy helped us with the cooking, as he does pig roasts and catering as a side business.
For the luncheon we had pulled pork, baked ham, chicken broccoli alfredo, italian meatballs, potato salad, pasta salad, tossed salad, egg, chicken and tuna salad rolls, potato chips, assorted pickles and olives, cheese and cracker platter, fruit platter and a veggie platter.
The tables were decorated with pink and white balloons and potted flowers. The flowers were given away to the guest at the table who had the closest birthday to yesterdays date, 4/17/2010. For favor's Bernadette made cute white chocolate teddy bear lollipops.

Yesterday turned out to be a drizzly, chilly day, but that didn't spoil the happy occassion for the baby shower luncheon. About 50 friends and family members attended.
Robin received so many awesome gifts. The new baby will certainly be a very stylishly dressed little girl. We can't wait for her arrival.

The Winnie the Pooh baby shower cake was made by one of Bernadette's friends. Her friend did an awesome job on that cake, and it was delicious too. The little bee's on the cake were made from yellow M&M's/face and yellow peanut M&M's made up the body. The bee's  had piped stripes of chocolate frosting on  back and the face was also created with chocolate frosting eyes/mouth. The wings were done with sliced almonds. Isn't that just the cutest cake?

Daffodils

This frilly centered daffodil is from the same bulbs as below.

                                      Aren't the centers really pretty? But so different from the above

These old fashioned daffodils are gorgeous. I dug the bulbs up many years ago from my grandfathers yard. The house was built in the early 1800's. I don't know who planted the bulbs or where they came from.

I have never seen any others like them. The centers are so full of petals.

I haven't had time to create art lately, but thought I would share a couple of pictures of my daffodils, and of course Fluff Puff had to check things out.

I dropped my digital camera, drats! I can still take pictures with it, but I can't get it to download the pictures to the computer. So, now I have to go look for a new camera.

Beading while at the hospital with my dad

4/11/2010   I started this red/white/blue patriotic spiral bracelet at the hospital yesterday.  I photographed this backwards, as it should show the red beading first not the blue.  

                                                  seed bead spiral is pink/peach

seed bead gold and gold/blue

seed bead blue and silver

rose and raspberry

teal and turquoise

all five below

I took my 91  1/2 year old father to the hospital on Wednesday morning. After spending most of the day in the ER they admited him to a telemetry floor with right lower lobe pneumonia. His heart enzymes were elevated, but so far his EKG's have all been normal. So hopefully he didn't have a heart attack too.
Dad will definately still be in the hospital over the weekend. I know he looks a lot better with each day that he is on the respiratory treatments and antibiotics. He is complaining about the hospital food. So, thats a good sign.
Yesterday he was sitting up most of the day. He is hating that the Red Sox have lost their last 3 games.

My dad is normally healthy, active, drives, and is very sharp for his age. I love him dearly, and can't wait for him to get discharged home.
Yesterday my mother who is 87 started with a real bad cold, and this morning she had laryngitis. She won't be going to visit my dad, but I have to run and check in on her.

While spending the days at the hospital I completed 5 spiral beaded bracelets.  The bracelets are hard to photograph to see the detail. There is a core row of beads thru the center of the bracelet, and then other beads spiral around the core to form a rope. Some have matte beads mixed with AB beads and also some are metallic colors. These bracelets are created with Nymo beading thread that is coated with beeswax and a beading needle.
I used size 10, 8 and 6's. The larger the number the smaller the bead. I am thinking of having a giveaway when things quiet down for me. click on the photos to view as a larger photo. Leave a comment if you wish and you may win one.

Spring flowers, shrubs, and trees are blooming everywhere. In my parents yard yesterday I noticed that their clematis had blossoms on it.

Well, that's it for now. I am off to the hospital again.

Felted silk flower pin giveaway winner is.......flowers mailed out 4/5/2010

I did things a little different this time to draw the lottery winner's name. Instead of writing out everyone's name that entered into a container for the drawing, I put numbers 1-17, as there were 17 comments left. I also decided to pick two other names as well. So, there are 3 winners in my giveaway this time of felted center silk flowers. The papers with the numbers were shaken up really well, and my husband drew the names out of a big container.
Winners have their choice from the flowers shown here on my blog, or the felted flowers that I have on my picture trail site.
www.picturetrail.com/elaine_akers
Let me know which one you want email me with your choice.... EAkers@aol.com. Also, do you want a pin back on your flower or not, as these can be used on art, or added to fabric.
This time number 13 wasn't an unlucky number...
winner # 1...# 13...is Linda Reid...chose the orange/yellow flower on my blog. (2nd flower down)
winner #2...# 12.....Susan...chose the light yellow flower (first one on my blog)
winner #3...#11...Kerry...chose the blue flower that is on my blog made into a pin. . (6th one down)

2 x 2 tiles for a swap

 I had to make 18 tiles for a swap.
Set #1...9 tiles. I started with black mat board, painted the mat board with Tim Holtz crackle paint, but the paint didn't crackle for some reason. I then painted sheer gold over the first layer of paint, and added some Radiant Pearls. Used the heat gun to dry the RP's, stamped a background in sepia colored ink, added a picture, some decorative paper, mini scrabble tiles-a letter for each participants first initial of their name, and finished with thick copper glitter.
Set#2...9 tiles. Stamped images into polymer clay, rubbed perfect pearls and then rubbed a light coat of a sheer gold paint because I couldn't find any Future Floor polish or my clear gloss clay glaze. I glued buttons, and charms on the clay tiles. With the glare of the flash it is hard to see the details.

Felted silk flower pin...Giveaway

I was blog hopping, and I went to blue birds living in the meadow. Lots of colorful artwork can be found on that blog. http://bluebirdslivinginthemeadow.blogspot.com/
There was a video tutorial on that blog of how to make felted silk flowers pins, and since I had all the materials: wool rovings, felting needles, silk flowers and angelina fibers I decided to create one.  I took 3 petal segments and staggered them on top of each other for a fuller flower. The flower pins are between 1 1/2- 2 inches wide. Take some wool roving and felt it into the center of the silk flower petals, after you have felted the center of your flower you then take the felting needle to add the angelina fibers which give the pins lots of sparkle. These little flowers are addicting to make. I have already gone thru my stash of silk flowers to see what colors I had on hand to make more pins. The flowers are quick and easy to make. The flowers shown are all taken closeup. I need to add beads to the centers of some.
You can add needle felt these onto ribbon, fabric, or wear as pins.
I posted more of the felted silk flowers on my picture trail site. www.picturetrail.com/elaine_akers
P.S...I posted the photo and message last night, but this morning decided I would have a giveaway of a felted center silk flower pin. Leave a comment, and you might be the new owner of one of my pins. I will draw a name on April 2nd. The winner will get to pick their choice of a flower. Colors available to chose from are blue, pale pink, red tones, orange, lavender/violet, yellowy peach, light rust from here or those posted in my pic trail album.

Pink Dyed Jade Bracelet set

I found these pretty pink dyed jade beads awhile back. The picture doesn't show how pretty the colorful beads really are. The beads range in color from light to dark shades of pinks and greens. I combined the beads with green and pink swavorski crystals. The finished bracelet reminds me of  spring. Don't you think? Hopefully I will be able to find more of the pink dyed jade beads so I can make  a co ordinating necklace to finish off the set.

Peeps Sunflower Cake

I had seen this cake before in the PEEPS Cookbook, but today the recipe came in a email from A Taste of Home magazine. I think this cake is so darn cute. Don't you think?
 I love PEEPS!  This would be a fun cake to make for Easter. I was thinking instead of using all those chocolate bits that I would use a star decorating tip from Wilton to decorate the center of the sunflower. Then top with a few of the chocolate bits.
Recipe below:
12 Servings

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 30 min. + cooling
Ingredients:
1 package (18-1/4 ounces) yellow cake mix

2 cans (16 ounces each) chocolate frosting

19 yellow chick Peeps candies

1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Prepare and bake cake according to package directions, using two greased and waxed paper-lined 9-in. round baking pans. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely; carefully remove waxed paper.

Level tops of cakes. Spread frosting between layers and over the top and sides of cake.

Without separating Peeps and curving slightly to fit, arrange chicks around edge of cake for sunflower petals. For sunflower seeds, arrange chocolate chips in center of cake. Yield: 12 servings.

Bracelet set

Today was a glorious first day of spring. Sunny and oh so warm. I did some yard work, went shopping, and then a little beading. I made this bracelet/earring set with round disks that are clear with red and silver. Don't the beads kind of look like a lollipop?
I was also started beading a lavendar spiral bracelet, and that is 3/4's done.
Since I am going to a Creative Memories scrapbooking crop tonight at my daughter in laws I made supper early. A clam chowder and I am bringing some for my d-i-l and son for their supper too. The chowder tasted delicious.

Paper Flowers

 Yesterday, I did quite a bit of rubber stamping, and I was still in the creative mood last evening, So, I decided I would make some stamped and layered paper flowers that I could  use on some spring greeting cards. This card was made for a inspiration mingle swap with a floral theme.
I used my Cricut to create the blue and purple flowers, and the yellow and red flowers I rubber stamped an image that to me looked like it could be a flower. I found that clear stamp at Joann Fabrics marked down to 50 cents. I think it might have been a snowflake, as it was in with all the Christmas stuff. Anyway, I cut the stamped pieces out around the shape of that image. I rubber stamped on the blue/purple petals and layered the cut out pieces to form the flowers.  On most, for the centers of the flowers I curled the petals to form a tight cluster.
The flowers were fun to make.

First attempt at making a felted mermaid

            
I am new to felting and I've only made flowers before. This afternoon I tried making the mermaid from the Wool Pets book. Instead of her laying on her side like the book I made her upright. I think the fins, arms and body came out pretty good, but the face definately needs LOTS of work. She really needs a plastic surgeon, don't you think? (LOL) Need to definately rework and practice doing faces. The book had lots of photos with step by step instructions to go by, but I found it difficult getting the features on the face not to look clownish.
I gave her breast that are hard to see in the photo.  I have scallop shell beads that as soon as I find them I will use them to cover her breast.
I didn't have mohair like the book suggested so I had to use felt rovings for her hair, and she looks like she is really having a very bad hair day. But, hey, this is my first attempt at making my mermaid. What do you think?