Mailart received!

It's a doggone shame that my cyberfriends live so far away. I wish some of you out there lived right next door to me (oh heck...all of you!) Listen to what Jill did for me. I'm in a swap recently for mailart and the person who was supposed to send to me didn't. Then the replacement person didn't. Well, I just figured that I wasn't getting a mailart piece and I was okay with that cause things happen in people's lives and such and I really enjoy giving anyway more than receiving (tho I do like to see other's craft talents!)
So in comes the coordinator of this swap, Jill, and sends me this fabulous mailart piece! So bright and cheery....and it went right through the mail, easy as pie! I had the biggest smile on my face when I got this.

Jill, you did a fabulous job on the mailart and thank you again for being so thoughtful and doing it yourself just so I wouldn't be left out! (check out her blog for the details on how she did it) As I told Jill, it's on display in my diningroom right now but I'm currently thinking of a really special place to put it cause it it so cheery.
So, that's it for now...just wanted to share a bit of my good fortune with you all. Till next time, yinz crazy guys....

BRRRRRR.....

....I'm not talkin' about the weather, yinz guys! I'm talking about my newest find in crafts..."ICICLE DOLLS"! (she kept wanting to roll over so the sharpie is there to hold her up!)

Isn't she cool??? (get it? COOL!) Anyway, found out about about them in Swap-Bot where I find all new crafts anymore! I think I've signed up for about 5 swaps which is my limit on being a Newbie, but once I get done with those I can do up to 20 at a time...WOW!
The Icicle Doll is just like a Dotee but shaped like an icicle. If you Google in "Images" Icicle Doll, you'll see alot more. If you click on my pic, you can get a closer view of her cute vintage face which I managed to copy onto muslin by ironing paperbacked wax paper (is that parchment paper maybe) to the muslin (8 1/2 x 11) and running it through my printer. I plan on making more of these cuties for sure.
The next is a purple and red dotee.....her hair is FABULOUS, don't ya think??? Just yarn!

Don't worry, I'm still cross stitching too! Working on the February TEAPOT...remember I finished the teacup. I'm sorta going backwards cause I'm going to do the ones for January after this. I did the January Teapot for a swap but I'm going to stitch it again along with the cup for myself.

I've been feeling so crafty lately....too bad I don't feel that way about cleaning the house and doing the laundry! Anyway, been wanting to mess around with my watercolors again so I pulled them out and played around a little trying to remember what I did that worked best and what paper worked best. I even pulled out one of the last pictures I painted which was a picture we took a few years ago while in Barbados that I painted.

Not too bad for a beginner. I'm much better and more comfortable with scenery than with still life. With still life I find myself using pen and ink with the watercolors for fine detail. When I was much much younger, I always found myself drawing scenery and sunsets, so maybe that's what I need to stick with. Anyway, I have another beach scene from Barbados drawn out that I never painted so stay tuned and I'll post that when it's done!
Hopefully I've inspired you a bit to craft...helps those brain cells stay alive too....so till next time, yinz crazy guys!

As promised....

.....the Crafty Post I promised you! And we'll start our post with the infamous Dotee Dolls! I just can't get enough of these. This first one is a Dotee I made for my niece and it's supposed to be her son....so it's name is "Owen Dotee". I tried to put on things that I associate with him....truck buttons, sock monkey buttons (which I made out of clay that you bake), his cats that he likes to chase with an empty wrapping paper tube which as you can see is in his back pocket with the words, "here kitty"! His name is in buttons as a tail with a heart that reads, "Made with Love". I had so much fun making this one and my niece loved it.
This next one is "Dice Dotee"! I was sorta inspired to make this one as a good friend of mine was heading to Vegas and when I found the dice beads, this little doll was created.

I'm in a Swap-bot that has to do with purple and red Dotees....not necessarily the Red Hat Society but just purple and red. This was the one I received from Pam and it really came at an appropriate time as I was sick with a head cold and felt miserable and the Sweetie Man handed me this package as I was laying in bed......it definately put a smile on my face! She also sent me a little bag of goodies which I ALWAYS love to get!! Thanks again, Pam

This was my prize from Anna as I guessed what her kitty was looking at on her blog post! This cute little bunny is hanging in my office right now. I was really excited because it was also sent from Poland which is 100% what I am...Polish! Thank you, Anna....I love it!

These are a couple of washcloths I knitted up on the way to Michigan last week. The guitar I did on the way back home for my son and the fire truck I did on the way to Michigan to give to my stepdaughter and son-in-law as he is a firefighter. The patterns are from Dig Knitty..she sells them on her blog and the assortment is unbelievable....anything you can think of! And for me a beginning knitter...so so easy!

That's about it for now. I have to work on my purple and red Dotee so I'll post pics of that soon.

Till next time, yinz crazy guys.......

Where do I begin....

I have so much to show about our wonderful time away in Michigan for our First Wedding Anniversary! I decided to split it up between non-crafts and crafts. First NON!
I'm going a little backwards here but too bad cause this was ONE of the highlights of our weekend. We got to visit Mars Hill Church in Grandville MI. I was honestly like a ten year old at a Hannah Montana Concert. I wanted to go there because one of my favorite Pastors (next to mine own of course) is Pastor Rob Bell the founder of Mars Hill. Well, I really didn't think we would get to see him, but CHECK THIS OUT.....

Do I look excited or what?????
For those of you who know who he is....he is as awesome in person as he is a speaker!
He talked with Sweetie Man and I for a few minutes, took a picture with us and even wanted to write a note to my pastor (inside joke on that one!) He's the founder of this HUGE church and has written books, did short films under the NOOMA name and does speaking tours as far away as Africa and New Zealand. We went to one a couple of years ago in Pittsburgh...it was great! Check out the Mars Hill site and download a few of his Sunday sermons (MP3 and I-Tunes). We are still both reeling a little from meeting him! I even asked him for hug and he gladly gave me one! Sweetie Man told him that he, Rob Bell, was my first anniversary gift, which he got a good chuckle out of that!
Okay....back to the beginning. We stayed with my Step-daughter and family and had such an awesome time. They squeezed in so much for us that we can't even begin to thank them.
First was the Meijer Gardens and as you can see in the pics below, there was a butterfly house, beautiful flowers and incredible outside sculptures. We definately want to hit this again in the summer when all is in bloom.


Our wonderful family....the cute little guy is our grandson!!! Always entertaining us!!!

Sweetie Man taking one of a zillion pictures! I'm going to try and add them to our little Michigan picture square on my sidebar as there were quite a few great shots.

They also took us to the Monaco Bay Restaurant WHERE American Idol's very own Matt Girard plays dueling pianos. He wasn't there of course, but WOW any of those singers could have been a contestant. It was incredible! We even requested a song (At Last) that was played at our wedding and they played it and we danced....so romantic!!! This pic was taken with a cell phone but you can see the back of one of the piano players.

Sweetie Man and I, of course, brought our one year old wedding cake top to Michigan and fed each other a piece.....(go ahead and moan...I know, we're just two crazy kids!)

And finally a picture of my "Pregnant" Stepdaughter (just a little belly now) and her hubby cooking us an Easter breakfast before we were off to church. They treated us like Royalty!!!! We had the second best time next to our Honeymoon!!! So much fun and so much laughing!!!

So with all the Non-crafty stuff out of the way....I'll post what I did in the way of crafts in the next few days, so stay tuned!! Till next time, yinz crazy guys.

From our Family to Yours...

MAY YOU AND YOUR FAMILY HAVE A BLESSED AND HOLY EASTER

One Year Ago Today....

Funny how I feel more myself with you

Than anybody else that I ever knew

I hear it in your voice, see it in your face

You've become the memory I can't erase

You could have been anyone at all

A stranger falling out of blue

I'm so glad it was you

Wasn't in the plan not that I could see

Suddenly a miracle came to me

Safe within your arms

I can say what's true

Nothing in the world I would keep from you

You could have been anyone at all

An old friend calling out of blue

I'm so glad it was you

Words can hurt you if you let them

People say them and forget them

Words can promise words can lie

But your words make me feel like I can fly

You could have been anyone at all

And net that catches me when I fall

I'M SO GLAD IT WAS YOU!

-CAROLE KING

One year ago today, I walked down the aisle

to this song to marry my soulmate.
These words were true then.....

and they are even truer today.
Thank you, Sweetie Man, for an incredible
first year of marriage!
May God Bless Our Marriage and
give us many many more to come!
I love you, Sir Royal Copenhagen!

-From Your Forever Lady Windsong

*Portrait was a 1st Anniversary gift to my hubby and was drawn by a young up and coming artist who is also the son of one of my very best friends. For more information on his work, please feel free to email me.

Zentangles???

Okay...so they are only my first attempt...but you really gotta try it. It's actually really relaxing and ANYONE can do this. You can do it with your kids or you can shut the door when your kids are driving you crazy and do it to calm yourself. I'm actually even carrying around a small notebook and pen to do Zentangles when I'm sitting doing nothing (it drives me crazy to sit and do nothing!) You may be doing it now and not even realizing you are. So check out ZENTANGLES and see what you can come up! Till next time, yinz crazy guys.....

I LOVE SPRING!!!

Definately my favorite season of the year and now with our wedding anniversary falling right in the middle of it, all the more reason to get away. A few ladies asked me about our plans and our plans include an enjoyable drive to our favorite state...MICHIGAN!!! We love going there to visit family and in September there will be an extra family member to visit when my stepdaughter and hubby and grandson welcome a little bundle of joy into their family! We're so excited! So our first wedding anniversary will be spent with our "matron of honor, best man, and ringbearer"! (my maid of honor and my escort down the aisle, aka DIL and Son, on that wonderful day will be babysitting the dogs at home!)
So, with that out of the way, I've been in this crafting frenzy and can't wait to show you some stuff.
First off are a couple more cross stitched kisses. Actually the butterfly I showed before but without the backstitching and the new one, sunny kiss (not sure if that's the name) is on the right.

This is the February Cup O'Tea completed but without the buttons. I know I've said it before, but I just love these colors. I'm working on the February Teapot now.

These are some fabrics I "baked and basted" according to a tutorial on the Twisted Stitcher's site. I love these!!!! The left is a Belfast linen and the right is a 28 ct evenweave. After I did the initial dying process, I was sorta bummed that the mottled staining wasn't there....THEN I baked and basted and BAM....it's awesome! But again, I love this look!!

I even started using one of the pieces above on this New England Village by Carriage House Samplings. I fell in love with at 123 Stitch (best prices and shipping rates ever!!).

And this is a teenie tiny more progress on my Village of Hawk Run Hollow. I figured at this rate I should finish by the time I'm 82. Only 30 more years.

Oh....and check out these awesome Q-snap huggers on the piece above and below. Christina at Forever Cowgirl makes these at a great price and she even has a great sale now. She has many different sizes and fabrics to choose from and they are pre-washed and smell so good when she sends them to you. I love these. (I found out the hard way that pre-washing is important...the one hugger I made, not nearly as nice as these, dyed a piece of mine a nice shade of blue in spots)
These are great and holds that extra fabric that is hanging in the back of your piece that is annoying and gets in the way when your stitching.

That's about it for now though I do have to tell you about an April Fools joke that hubby played on me. I've just joined swap-bot and really like it but I'm new to the site and don't know too much about it. To make a long story short, he texted me from some bogus number saying that he was from Swap Bot Central and I just won swapper of the week and go to blah-blah site to collect my prize. I fell for it so much so that when I couldn't get to the site named, I sent an email to the swap-bot administrators telling them this. Needless to say I sent a follow up apologizing for the inconvenience once I found out I'd been fooled! Today I got an email from swap-bot suggesting I join their NEWBIE GROUP....I think they realized I was blonde!!

Oh, well, that's it for now.......hope you're day is as beautiful as ours is here....till next time, yinz crazy guys.