Halloween Pics!

My little witch!

 Here's just a few of the pictures from our little neighborhood  

Trick-or-Treat  

gathering...

{My mom has some close ups of Maggie that I hope she will send soon!}

Me!

That's all for now because I am in the GROOVE of crafting & don't want to get sucked-in to the computer this morning!

See you soon!

French Inspired Home Decor & Urban Design!

Good Morning! Well, good EARLY morning!

I have been awake since 3:15 with my brain going a mile a minute!

So, I figured I would just get up & do something productive!

I spent a lovely morning yesterday with my sister, Kim & our new friend, Stacey Foster {BLOG, ETSY}, having lunch at Snooze & browsing through a wonderful little shop - Old Glory Antiques/Prince Street Dry Goods & our friend Claire Roberts of Coming Home was there having a Holiday Trunk Show! What a treat!!

Claire Roberts of Coming Home

Claire is such a delight to be around - super sweet, very talented AND she's FRENCH! {I apologize; I spaced taking my camera & should have asked if I could take more photos with my phone, but I just wasn't thinking!} At least I got this one of her (if a little blurry!)! The rest (below) I "borrowed" from the Old Glory Facebook Page & Claire's page from The Barn's website (she has a couple of shops there!)

I don't know how she does it ALL!

One of Claire's Santos Angels ready for the Holidays!

She had so many beautiful things, from handmade ornaments & stockings to angel wings to adorable embellished Christmas Baby Shoes!! {I promise to get some photos of her space when I visit her shop at the Barn next} She's all about the French touch in your home - handmade & vintage-styles. Below are a few photos from her shop at The Barn...

They really don't do her shop/work justice!

She also carries one of the MOST FABULOUS French magazines on Home Decor...

Magazines & Shopping!

I drool over them every time I am in her shop! They are $24 U.S., so I have never been willing to buy one at that price! BUT, I just had to have it this time - it's the Christmas issue!! SO many wonderful things to look at & maybe make too! Thank you Claire for enabling me!! ;D

Now a little bit of eye candy from Old Glory...you must visit their blog to see all the wonderful collections of antiques, home decor & more! I met the owner, Holly, briefly and have to say that I am very jealous of her & her beautiful shop! It would be a dream to have a space like this one & the money to buy such treasures! Here's a little peek...{all photos courtesy of Old Glory's blog)

Gorgeous farm table!!

Amazing chandelier made of SPOONS!

{They also have the most amazing pendant lights made from old door lock-fronts!! I think I might need one of those some day!!}

LOVE this desk! Think of the things you could fill all those drawers with!

And, these aren't even the pix from today! They had outfitted the store with a slight smattering of Christmas decor - ornaments, ribbons, trees & more!! I hope to go back in a couple of weeks to take some photos of the shop ALL decked out! I would just love it if my home looked ANYTHING like this AND my hubby didn't consider it CLUTTER!! Ahhhhh, someday maybe!

That's it for me this EARLY morning! I am off to my sisters in a few hours to work on some more projects for the Holiday Bazaar coming up in just 14 DAYS from now! {{ACK!!}} I plan on posting some photos next week of all the projects from my mom & sister & a few new ones of mine! {I know! I said that before, but this time I REALLY mean it!}

If you're local to the Denver/Castle Rock area, we sure hope you'll stop by & see us!!

Saturday, November 19th from 10-2 @ Castle View H.S.; 5254 N. Meadows Dr.. Castle Rock, CO 80109

Sadness

I know what you're thinking, "no posts for 2+ weeks & now 2 in day!"

Well, you may not want to read this one, as it will be a rather sad post. Something that I wouldn't usually write about, but I am feeling the need to get it out...

me, Jason & Karter at our 20yr HS reunion

I attended the funeral today of that rather handsome man in the photo above. He's the same age as me & died in an accident last weekend. A stupid, shouldn't have happened accident!

 We weren't super close, but as my friend Kelly said at the funeral when I commented on how I couldn't even remember when I FIRST met Jason, she said, "I just remember him always being there." That is so true! I have snippets of memories from school with Jason & all our friends, but most memorable was the few hours we spent together during & after our 20th reunion. He joined a group of us girls (as usual - surrounded by women!) after the reunion for a few more drinks on the town. He was making us all laugh through the night.

Jason in Iraq 2009

He had a very adventurous life traveling the world & even working as a contractor in war-time Iraq & Bosnia with their governments trying to rebuild. He pictured a better world & wanted to be involved in making it so. (He left for Iraq shortly after our reunion - we were all terribly worried for him.)

Jason in Turkey 2010

The service today was sad, beautiful & full of melancholy as many friends & family shared stories. There was a wonderful slide show of him playing in the background as well as some of his favorite music.

Listening to the stories from people he had met in recent years made me wish so much that we had kept in touch better after the reunion. I ran into him a few times - even just a few weeks ago at the store - & we always promised to get together, catch up & encourage each other to get the local gym! But we never did. He was a handsome, friendly, caring, humorous & genuine man who always had a smile for you & made you feel good when you were around him. I will miss him.

These stories also made me sad for the relationships I have now.

Friends that I hardly see because we are all so "busy."  Old friends that I have known since childhood that live so close, but we still only manage to see each other 1-2x a year. It made me sad that so much time has slipped by & it scared me too.

For what might the future hold for them, me, anyone?

I realized that our lives can change in an instant, as it did for Jason & his family. 

I don't want to attend any more funerals of friends & feel regret for time passing us by without sharing more of it together. 

Life is simply too short.

A quote from the pastor of the service, something he was told during a sad time in his life:

"Love leaves more than Death takes away."

We need more LOVE in our lives.

Thanks for listening,

{{HUGS}}

Motivation?

I sat down the other day to write up a little post, (since I haven't posted in almost 2 weeks & that post was more of a blog promo - which I WON!!!) & the words just wouldn't come. Ever have that problem? I couldn't even find the motivation to search for photos to post! Nuts! At least I am here now, right?!?!

It's been a busy couple of weeks though! I don't know if I mentioned this in another post, but I was on the PTO committee at my daughter's school for their 1st Fall Festival, 5K & Fun Run. It was hard to pull together, but very rewarding in the end. And no, I don't have any photos because I was sitting behind a table for 3 hours checking people in for the runs! Now THAT was crazy! We really had no idea of how many runners (kids too) would sign-up the day OF the race! But we do know what not to do next year!

Of course, in my spare time (HA), I was working on more projects for the craft fair. Here's just a few:

Hello Card

"Hello Darling" on inside

Thank You Card

Chunkie Angel Block

I have become addicted to these Chunkie Blocks!! They are not the exact size of an ATB (Artist Trading Block) because the guy at Home Depot couldn't cut them that small. they are really fun to play with & you can do lots of 3D elements or stay flat!

This is a photo of one of my BIL's! Priceless!

Santa Chunkie!

Lastly, my sister & I found this FABULOUS photo to use in her Art Group project (I promise to post photos over the weekend from the past couple of "sessions"! I can't believe I haven't posted ANY! So sorry!) & I put her on a gift card tin...

"No Peeking!"

In between that, we had our second Encaustics class. It was so much fun & went by way too fast! I will post pictures of that as well!

So that's it for now. I would LOVE to hear what you think of the projects too! So please leave me a comment when you have a minute!

Mom & Kim have been busy too! Mom is making some fun Scrap-a-Teeny purses & Kim has altered some cabinet & drawer fronts with some fabulous scrap images! I will get some photos this weekend when we get together!

Wish us luck...Maggie is going to a friends house today for her FIRST sleep-over!! I sure hope I don't have to go pick her up at 11pm!

Have a wonderful Friday everyone & thanks for your patience with me on my delayed posts!

Have you heard of Whippy Cake?

Have you heard of Whippy Cake? It's not something to eat...it's this amazing collection of hair & clothing flower accessories all handmade by this ADORABLE girl named Becki Crosby (& her team)!

This is her...

Becki Crosby

I met her briefly at The Creative Connection & wished I could have her style! Of course, her style included her FAB flowers that she so cleverly added velcro to so that you can attach them to her headbands as well as a clip to place in your hair or onto clothing!! 

BTW, SHE'S GIVING AWAY A $100 GC NEXT WEEK TO CELEBRATE THE NEW LINE!

Here are just a couple from the NEW Rococo Collection:

The Moth Ball

The Hun Bun

There's so much more, but those 2 are my favorites!

I bought these at TCC:

Preppy

Spectator

They are just adorable & very versatile! You have to check them ALL out!

That's it for now!

I'll try to pop in later & show you some more of what I've been working on for the show in November. I have so many ideas floating around in my head that I can't sleep anymore!!

TTFN!