New Needle Books

Just in time for Mother’s Day, too!  My last one from the first batch sold out last week.  I was getting a little flustered trying to get these done in time to have them in my Etsy shop, but there is no rushing these! 

I planned out my ideas for how I wanted to lay out the pages on these (makes it easier to sew that way!) as far as embellishments, pockets, etc.

This is the first of the new batch!  I have seven more that need to be put together.  I should have them done and in the shop over the next 7-10 days. 

I think these would make lovely Mother’s Day gifts.  They are the perfect size to fit in a pocketbook, glove compartment, desk, suitcase, tote or even just to use at home.  I keep mine on my sewing room table.

Some of these are just a tad bigger than the first batch, but have images just as cute.  Different images from the first batch (except for the one, which is left over from the first batch).  And, like the first group, each one is “One Of A Kind” with its own combination of fabrics, buttons and embellishments.

So I hope you will head over to my Etsy shop and check them out.  While you are there, I have a bunch of other items that would make lovely gifts for Mom!

Updated: All three shown here have SOLD!  Thank you so much! 

I better get going on the others that are waiting to be put together!

Pinterest Inspired Manicure

I started a new board on Pinterest not too long ago ~ Nail Polish, which is not just for the actual nail polish brand, color or shaping of the nails, but also for the different nail art.  I mostly thought I’d find a good manicurist (meaning someone who is artistic and could pull these off), but I usually do my own nails for budget and time reasons.  Here are some of my favorites.

{Please see my Pinterest board for sources}

Can you see the theme here?  While out at CVS, I veered from my list and bought two of the Sally Hansen nail polishes, and thought I’d try my hand at this look.  Something simple that my shaky hands could handle.

Here are the nail polishes I used.  Sally Hansen Complete Salon in Shell We Dance (210) and Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear in Celeb City (220). 

What do you think?  Not as daring or dramatic as the ones I’ve pinned but I figure I will work my way up to that.  My hands are a bit rough still from the Winter we’ve had and dealing with lots of paper at work these past couple of weeks, but I’m really liking the look.

Not a bad picture as taken by a 4 1/2 year old.  Who, by the way, as my little clone, wanted the same thing.  Except she wanted her pink to not be as sheer looking.

Have you tried anything like this recently?  Do you do your own nails or do you have them done?  I used to have them done about ten years ago and was also getting them silk wrapped at that time.  I stopped to save money and to see if I could get my own nails back to their old healthy shape.  They are better than they were before I decided to silk wrap, but they are nowhere near what they were like, say, 20 years ago.  Ahhh, aging! 

Woman’s World

The Woman’s World May 4th issue has hit the stands!

If you recall, I mentioned that my toile lampshade in our master bedroom would be featured in an article they were doing on toile.  And there I am, in the bottom right corner of page 37!

What a thrill and how nice they were to send me two copies!  Thank you, Woman’s World!

Now to send one copy off to my Mom!

My First 5K & Giveaway Winner

Last Saturday I participated in my first 5k!  I walked it with my daughter, who is pregnant, and my 4 1/2-year-old granddaughter.  It was a color run/walk for the Indian festival of color, Holi.  What a fun time and there were some great people involved.

I believe we were one of the last few to finish, but we finished, and our three generations finished together!

We were quite a mess of color by the time the 5k was over!  The picture above was before it started and was just from the three of us throwing color on each other.  This was a lot of fun and we had a beautiful day.  I would definitely do this again! 

Now, onto the winner of the $25.00 gift certificate from Uncommon Goods.  The winner is

Celestina Marie from Southern Daydreams!

Congratulations, Celeste!  I will be in touch.

Thanks to all who entered! 

Flowering Pear Trees

They certainly love their Flowering Pear trees here in Ohio!  I love them, too, having had two of them in our backyard on Long Island.  They are just all over the place here, though.  I’ve never seen them used so much and I’ve been wanting to get some pictures every year, but haven’t been able to get to it before the blooms are gone.  This year, I got them.

The picture above is by me in our condo community.  A lot of times they are planted so that they give the effect of an allee (French).  For those of you who don’t know, an allee is where the same variety of plants, bushes or trees are planted in an alley type fashion along a walkway.   You get that effect when traveling down many of the streets in our community here.  This one is on a street that I take to/from my daughter’s house.

Here is another street in the same community.

This picture is from the shopping center down the road.  I don’t know if you can see them clearly (the trees closest to the buildings in the picture), but they are planted all along the main “road” of the shopping center.

I didn’t get a picture, but they are even on the busy main street where I work.  It certainly is quite striking to see all these flowering trees in a row like this and drive down the center of them.

I took these pictures the other day when we made a trip to our favorite nursery, Grandma’s Garden.  I took some pictures of my granddaughter while we were there and I also saw this pretty girl was still hanging around.  She’s about 15 inches tall.

I have seen her on the last few trips there ~ broken and with no price tag.  It appears she is supposed to be holding a bird but the bird is broken off.  I finally decided to find an associate and ask how much she would be. 

They gave her to me at 50% off ($19.99) and so I was very happy to take her home for $20.00 plus tax.  She has found a spot right in a bed in the front of our condo and, once the flowers start to bloom here, I’m sure she will look darling.

Uncommon Goods Review & Giveaway

When I was recently given the opportunity to review a piece of jewelry from Uncommon Goods, I jumped at the chance.  They had several pieces that caught my eye, not only for myself, but as gifts.

 

I chose a personalized piece ~ the Typewriter Key Necklace with the letter “K”, for my first name.  Simple, timeless and classic, in my opinion.  A necklace that would go with just about everything, and one that I could wear to work or just hanging out with family.

For those of you wondering how a piece would arrive as a gift, it comes in a box with the Uncommon Goods name on the lid.

Inside you will find the necklace within a lovely printed velvet bag, along with a small card that indicates that the typewriter key is, indeed, from an actual vintage typewriter.

There is a clasp on the pendant, so you could add it to a charm bracelet even, and the lobster clasp that is also on the chain provides a secure closure for the necklace.  With Mother’s Day coming up fast, they have some lovely gifts for anyone’s Mom!  Not just jewelry either.  Here are some items I came across and all very reasonably priced.

Literary Scarves

Gardener’s Tool Seat

Mariner Cheese Board

Uncommon Goods is an online marketplace offering creatively designed, high-quality merchandise at affordable prices.  You can search for gifts for him, her and by price!  Uncommon Goods has kindly offered a giveaway here on my blog for a $25.00 gift certificate.

Entering is easy and there are three ways to enter:

• Leave a comment on this post telling me you’d like to be entered for this giveaway.
• If you’ve ever purchased something from Uncommon Goods, leave me another, separate comment telling me about it.
• Visit Uncommon Goods then come back and leave me a separate comment telling me about something that caught your eye.

This giveaway will end on April 22, 2015, at midnight EST.  Giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry!).  Winner will be chosen via random.org.  Winner will have 48 hours to confirm their win after being notified or a new winner will be chosen.  You do not have to have a blog to enter, but you must leave me a way to contact you in your comment.

This post is sponsored by Uncommon Goods.  I was selected for this opportunity and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

 

Thrifting Finds

I dropped off a car load of stuff the other day at Goodwill and, as always, had to go inside to look around.  Not very much caught my eye, but I did come across these two items that just had to come home with me.  This wall basket.  I’ve seen some bigger ones on other blogs and even in magazines, and I love the look of them.  {The faux hydrangeas are my addition}.

This smaller size is just fine for me since we have down-sized.  In fact, there are not too many places to put this since we have an open floor plan and limited wall space.  I was thinking I could take down my bread board here in the kitchen and put it here for now.

What do you think?  Maybe just for a bit of a change I will keep the basket here.  I stole these hydrangeas from my coffee table Paris tote so I will have to get more.

I think it is a bit too deep to use on the front door.  It may even make its way into one of the bathrooms as wall décor.  We’ll see.  For $2.99 it was worth getting to play around with.

The other item I found was this cute little tureen. 

It’s in perfect condition!  I almost didn’t get it, because it is too small to really add in to the collection above my kitchen cabinets, but when I saw the ceramic ladle inside {and that there were no chips or cracks}, I knew I had to get it.  Plus, it was only $5.99.

I just need to figure out where I want to use it.  Maybe the small buffet in our dining area.   I’ll have to play around with some vignettes and see what I can come up with.

I felt rather pleased with these finds!  It’s been awhile since I’ve found anything I’ve liked at the thrift store for my home.