Shared Friendship, Shared Journal

When my BFF, Lee and I turned 40 we made some amazing and very memorable gifts for one another. We have been friends for 20+ years and we are still finding things that we share in common.
This was one of the gifts from Lee. It is an accordian mini book that is completed on both sides. It chronicles our years together. The pictures make me laugh and cry. I gave it its own shelf in my studio and I love looking at it, especially when I'm missing her.

As one of our gifts to each other, we started a shared journal. (Shown above) It belongs to both of us and we pass it back and forth between us adding new stories, pictures and thoughts. This has turned out to be a wonderful way to capture the things we share together and also don't get to share with one another. I gave it to Lee in October with lots of goodies inside. By January, she had filled several other pages and sent it to me for the next couple of months. Well, another set of birthdays has gone by so I did a couple of pages today and will be ready to hand it off to Lee in person in June when she comes to visit. I hope for all who read this that you have an extraordinary friend like I do. If you do, start sharing a journal and see where it grows your friendship.

Just For You, Luz!

My friend Luz, (aka cinnibonbon) put a challenge to all of her blogger friends to draw/sketch a self portrait. Well, I'm not much of a sketch artist and never have been, but I really enjoyed trying something new. This sketch hardly looks like me, but it was interesting to study my face and to consider all of the shadows and lines. Thanks for the challenge, Luz. I hope you enjoy my effort.

Birds Take Flight

After collecting some unusual buttons, I finally tried my hand at making some jewelry. I got inspired a few weekes ago by the two books pictured above. They are such wonderful books. The pictures, ideas and step by step instructions are terrific. They even provide a list of resources to find some of the brass findings and stampings. The first book is "French Inspired Jewelry" by Kaari Meng. The french influence of the beads and buttons in this book make you just drool. The book behind this one is "Beautiful Button Jewelry" by Susan Davis. Susan is the founder of Grandmother's Buttons which is always advertised in Victoria Magazine. This book is so great for the beginner. The instuctions on tools and button jewelry making is outstanding.

This was my first pair of earrings that I made. These are old metal earrings with a mother of pearl inlay. I added freshwater pearls and additional mother of pearl buttons. Lastly are the birds. These pair are going to my best friend, Lee who always encourages me and inspires me! These birds are a remembrance of our "Birds of a Feather" creative adventure.


This second pair is for me! These pink, domed shaped buttons spoke to me. These have freshwater pearls too along with two different small vintage metal buttons in the middle. I finished this pair with brass birds as well. I have started quite a collection of buttons and have alot of ideas for bracelets and necklaces, too.

This is a small sample of some of the glass, metal and bakelite buttons I have found. I have a full post with lots of close-ups of these buttons on our Birds of a Feather Blog. I am really excited and inspired to keep going. There is alot of beautiful jewelry being made out there and it is really fun to see what others are doing. I will post some of my creations from time to time. Wish me luck!

Spring Fun!

Here she is in full Egg Hunt glory! Last year, Don and I had to lead her along and point out the eggs. This year, she knew just what to do. She spotted one and then took off finding the rest. It was a beautiful day yesterday. It hit 75 degrees!

This is in my SIL Judy's backyard. This is her Day Lily garden along with a few Iris. This will all be in bloom by May/June.

Hooray for Spring! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter yesterday.

Before and After

I found this sweet little china sugar bowl on my last antique shopping trip in Milledgeville. Something about it spoke to me and I added it to my list of finds that day. It wasn't until I got it home and placed it on my sewing table that I got my idea.

I found some cute matching floral fabric in my stash and made a really different pincushion out of it. it is only 4 inches long handle to handle. I placed it up for sale in our Birds Shoppe. I am going to find it hard to part with. I will just have to find some other cute china pieces to make these with.

Here are some of the embellishments. One of Mom's crocheted flowers, some vintage buttons and a brass bird charm.

Just a Little Bit Country...

Isn't this special? My niece April brought this with her on Sunday when the family got together. I couldn't believe it. All it is missing is a little camouflage and it would be ready for the runway. The fashion finds down here in the South just keep on surprising me. She seemed to love it and that is all that counts.

We're in the Army now...

Don's son Corwin blew in for the weekend after spending 2 weeks at Fort Benning. Fort Benning was only a 2 hour ride from us. Don went to pick him up to recooperate for 2 days before flying back home to Rhode Island. CJ is a full time Army National Gaurdsman and was on a 2 week training with the Army Rangers to continue to further his career advancement. He spent that time on killer obstacle courses, repelling out of Black hawk helicopters at 90ft. and hiking 12 miles with a 50lb ruck sack on his back. Needless to say he was worn out. So we handed him the TV remote and stocked the fridge with beer. While he was here, the family came to visit and had a little fun with some of his equipment...

This is my nephew, Blake who is 14 trying on CJs pack and gear.

And April, who of course never misses out on the fun.

Michael, who is CJs first cousin, tried on the helmet which was a bit too small. We got a good laugh.

All of us went out to dinner. Grandmama and Grandpa treated. Yeah!

We had a short visit with Corwin, but it was great to see him!

12 Month Recipe Card Swap

This past January my BFF Lee initiated a recipe card swap. 6 of us ladies agreed to do 2 cards plus a recipe book cover. The idea was to have 1 recipe represented for each month of the calendar year. So we got started and finally sent everything out to Lee for her to make all of the books. I can't wait to get the final recipe book to add to my kitchen.

This first picture is the cover completed by my lovely and talented Mom. "Momma Ru" this came out so cute. Anyone who knows Mom, knows how much she loves teapots and teacups. Great job Mom.

This is the January recipe that I completed. It is for Smoky Turkey Shepherd's Pie. This is a wonderful recipe for the winter months.


February was Mom's first card. It is for a family favorite. Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream pie! Great for your Valentine sweetie. Of course, it wasn't enough to do just one side of the card, Mom had to do both.

Side 2 with the recipe.

This is the July recipe that I put together for a Blueberry Cake with Hot butter sauce. This cake is great all year round. It is even better with cranberries in the Fall.

Last, but not least is August. Mom put her Glazed lemon tea cake recipe on this one. Yum!

We had such a good time with this little swap. Thanks Lee for getting it started. If anyone wants one of these recipes, let me know, I will send the enlarged readable file.

Last Chance for Easter Treats

Hi Y'all,

The Easter goodies are in our shoppe and ready to go. Take a peak. It's not too late!

Only 2 of these goody baskets left!

http://birds-of-a-feather.ecrater.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5651988

Easter Cards

I mentioned in my last post that my neighbor Annette put in a request for some Easter cards. I finished them today. She is going to place in the picture of her two girls herself so I added a picture of Shelby that I had to fill in for the sake of this post. They came out so cute. Her girls are dressed in brown and pink in the picture so we went with the same color scheme.

This was the demo card that I made to show her. I made some changes. Doing that grass was time consuming.

This is officially the last of my Easter projects. On to other things!

Bunny Fun

The cute little girl in my Easter banner above is none other than my mother. She recently gave me a whole bunch of old photos of herself and my grandparents. They are so wonderful to have. I really enjoy trying to make new banners, but it definitely takes some skill and lots of practice. We are busy getting ready for Easter around here. I'm on deck for Shelby's school party next week, so we have gotten lots of goodies to have an egg hunt. I now have to stuff these plastic eggs with treats. yeah!
I have also been asked by my friend Annette, to help her with some handmade Easter cards. We will be doing those tomorrow so they actually have a chance to reach her family. Something has happened to time as I have gotten older. It moves way to fast!
Easter will be a quiet holiday. We will have our Easter egg hunt in the front yard with Shelby and then I will have Don's family for an Easter brunch. (I'll be trying Lee's Easter Brunch Casserole recipe this year!) Then later in the day, we will be at my SIL Judy's house for dinner. What will you all be doing this year?
I have tried to go easy on the chocolate candy this Easter. I can't afford anymore weight. I love crafting etc., but I am getting such the spread from all of the sitting. I HAVE to get back to walking!
Have a great day, everyone. Miss You All!

A Day With Our Little Princess!

Our home in Gray, Georgia to Disney World is now only a 6 hour drive. So Mom and I packed up the car along with Shelby Girl and spent 2 days with Mickey. We left on Sunday and spent Monday at the Magic Kingdom. Here is her highness, Princess Shelby.

The weather was perfect at 73 degrees F, but the SpringBreak crowd had started to build this week. Despite the crowd we had a great time. After 2 days we had enough fun and enough of keeping up with a 2 year old.

We spent day 2 at the Animal Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios.











These pictures were taken at City Hall in the Magic Kingdom.












Getting a picture of the castle free of the passing crowd is rare. This picture came out so great.










Mimi and Shelby waiting for the SpectroMagic parade to start.

All worn out! Dreaming of our next trip already.

Rocks Aren't Just for Little Boys

Since we first moved into the house, Shelby has been fascinated with the little lake in our back yard. It has made us extremely diligent in always double locking all doors. But when we get a chance to go out and play on nice days like these, the ritual is to look for the biggest rocks we can find. To do what with you might say? Throw them into the lake, what else.

This one was so big the water splashed up on to her jacket and pants. It of course got her all dirty. Mom has never been really good at letting Shelby get dirty. She was having so much fun, I just let it ride.

I love these days. Shelby just runs and runs without a care in the world. I hope we can keep it that way for a very long time!

A New Chapter...a Creative Adventure

As you can see from my banner above, I have been busy making some Easter treats. Some are for me, but the rest are for my new venture with my BFF Lee. We have started a new shared blog together called Birds of a Feather. We are the 2 birds that will be sharing ideas, thoughts, trinkets, treasures and lots of our creative goodies. We are peddling our wares on two shoppes. Birds of a Feather Shoppe on ecrater and an Etsy Shoppe. We are very excited about this new adventure. After 22 years, we are still finding new things to enrich our friendship and creative ways of closing the miles between us.

Many thanks to those of you who constantly support me and get excited about my new creations. You're great for this girls ego!

Starting soon, I will be showing off my latest button and bead jewelry. Wish me luck!

Bunny Hugs to All!

Love,

Tammy

A Little Mommie Maintenance

Yesterday, Leap Day Nette and I got away in the afternoon for a girls lunch and a little Mommie Maintenance! It is rare as you all know to be able to find that time together. Nette has a busy work schedule so we were psyched to get to go off and do some girlfriend things.

We started the afternoon at Trish Ann's Antique Shop and Tea Room. We had the most delicious baked potato soup with a chicken salad croissant. It was yummy! The chicken salad is made with pineapple and pecans.

This is the inside of Trish Ann's. It is very cozy.














After this delicious lunch, we headed back to Gray for the maintenance part. We went to the nail place in town and treated ourselves to a manicure and pedicure.








This is me getting my manicure from a sweet gal named Callie.











This is Nette getting her pedicure.














All done! Ready for my flip flops!







We had such fun today. Thanks to our hubby's for keeping the girls! Looking forward to our next outting, Nette!