A little advice...

My future SIL (Ryann) and my brother (Ron) went to a couple's shower for her friends who are getting married next month. Everyone at the shower wrote some words of marriage wisdom on a card that was later slipped into a little envelope/sleeve. Ryann sent them to me to put into book form and here's what I came up with:
The wedding colors are pale green with a little yellow. I found this yummy paper at Paper Vineyard -- Basic Grey's line Porcelain (Love!!!). What a fun project! Thanks, Ryann for having me do this!!! :o)!!!

I ♥ my cats!

I knew when I put this piece of old quilt on top of my Great-Grandmother's sewing machine that it would eventually be covered in cat hair. Little did I know it would be the new favorite hang-out spot for our fuzzy friends.

(Whiskers Jay is sporting the gray striped coat;

Fancy Jane dressed in the fluffy orange ensemble.)

The first rose of 2009

Second-year-crop

I know Carrie will roll her eyes when she sees this post but that's ok (whatever, dude). The rose bushes Doug planted last year did well, but this year they are going to be out of control! I took this picture yesterday morning of the first rose bud getting ready to open. There are dozens of other buds that will be open within the next week. The rose bush on the left will have BIG hot pink blooms, center is yellow, and the one on the right has these beauties:

(Did I just call a rose a "beauty"?
Am I turning into a weird old cat lady
that names her roses? uh-oh...)And here she is, opened up, in all her glory!

Weekend road trip...

The drive to Young is so beautiful this time of year. There were tons of wildflowers along the way when we drove there last weekend. I love the desert...

Roosevelt Lake on the horizon:

Don't need curtains for this "kitchen" -- our campfire site on our property in Young:

Finally curtains...

Well, these aren't the best quality pictures, but you can at least get an idea of what our new kitchen curtains look like. It's so nice to have them done and up -- after 4+ years living here. What do you think?

Valance box over the kitchen sink (I used the red strip w/ vintage buttons to hide my seams):

This one's a little dark, but you get the idea...

Valance box over the sliding glass door. (Eddie in the mirror.)
It had been so long since I'd sewn anything and I realized how much I miss it! Me and the ol' Singer will be seeing more of each other in the near future. :o) I have some CUTE fabric and a new apron pattern calling my name...

Stamp shelf made by my wonderful hubby!!! ♥

I am SOOOOO excited to have this! About a month ago I was blog-surfing and saw something similar on a blog I can't remember (I lose track of where I've been). Anyway! I said, "Honeeeeyyyyy...I want this..." Now, Doug is a painter, not a carpenter, but I'm SO very impressed with his craftsmanship on this. It was fun to see him creating something and enjoying it so much too!

Built to my specifications, the shelf is made of 1 x 2's, 24" high and 12" wide. I was a little surprised at how quickly it filled up...didn't realize how many stamps I had. :o] However, it seems that most of the stamps I'm collecting these days are acrylic, so this size should hold me just fine.

Don't you just love it?!?! Carrie is jealous and wants one for over her work table.

I learned something new today...

So...I'm taking an online art class from an artist whose blog I follow: Homegrown Hospitality
I'm so excited to be learning from her! The class started today and here's a flower I made using one of her instruction sheets. Not bad for a first try, I think. :o)

Now I just need to figure out what to put it on...

Me Book Day

Yesterday Carrie and I headed to the west side of town to play with my SIL (Liz), niece (Savannah), and Mom (Marti). I made kits and we put together "10 things about me" books. I loved seeing everyone's own personality come out in the way they assembled their books. We all had a great time! Here are some pix: Top (left to right): mine, Savannah's, Liz's.
Bottom is Mom's and Carrie's.
(I'm sure Carrie will post her individual pix on her blog...you'll have to check it out there.)
http://aninspiredpeace.blogspot.com/

Liz, Carrie, Marti, Savannah, me.

And here are some pix of my book: Yay! Fun project...fun day...