Halloween Birds and Goodies are flying out...

The Halloween crafting season is in full swing and Lee and I have been busy filling orders for our Blackbird tags, Witch tags, Halloween Circle tags and Halloween Magnets on Etsy and Lollishops. Come check out our goodies. Lee has just added some vintage mercury glass beads in plenty of time for your Christmas crafting, too.
6 Blackbirds to a pack ready to craft and create with.
1 Inch Halloween Circle Tags perfect to decorate your birds with.
Send some "Best Witch" tags to your gal pals!
Some sweet Halloween magnets.
Come Visit Twigs and Feathers on either Etsy or Lollishops and buy any of our Halloween goodies and get Free Shipping!! Mention my blog, "The Other Side of Me" or Lee's blog "Weber's World" in the comment section to receive this promotional discount! Shop now until Sunday, Sept. 6th at 6 pm.

Back to School Blast

Well, here she is ready for her first day of "big school" as she calls it. All day everyday! She went with not even a worry or concern. We dropped her off at the door, kissed her goodbye and then she turned to wave. My brave, big girl! She loves it and I am so happy....it makes me feel less guilty for all my free time! The kids were off to school and the parents were smiling with excitement. We all then got together for a Back to School Brunch.
My partner in crime, Annette and I co-hosted a back to school brunch for some of our friends that morning. We started with Mimosas.
We set up my back porch for our gathering.
Then we spread out the food for everyone to enjoy. We had a ham, cheese and potato breakfast casserole, cheese grits, homemade biscuits, fresh fruit and a almond pear cream cheese torte. YUMMY! With the mimosas in hand, not one seemed to be looking for the tissue box. There was nothing but smiles.
Here are some pics of the Bunch at Brunch!
We had a great time that morning and then went off to enjoy our first day of quiet.
When Shelby returned home that day from her first full day of school she had a balloon and cupcake surprise. As you can see from the smile it was a good one. Well, we have one full week under our belts and she asks to go to school every morning. I hope it lasts for the entire year. I hope all your little ones have a great first day, too.

Lyrical Interpretation: Book 3

I finally got around to Vesna's book to continue our round robin. It is such an amazing book. Vesna chose a poem rather then a song and her request was for us to place some faces of the past to fill her "home."
Vesna chose this really old, small picture album which was deconstructed for us to create our pages in. She also included this old bank register for a place for us to leave her a note and to leave our signatures. I love every page of this creation. This book "sung" to me.
It is such a lovely collection of like thoughts and ideas, yet each page is so unique. Here are my two pages.
I am sure you recognize Ernest from my last post. He is in such stark contrast to the other people pictured in the book. He is the only one smiling.
My second page is a veiled woman, more mature and very solemn.
It was difficult to pack this book up to pass on. It has such feeling and thought provoking elements to it. Great job to all of the artists. Vesna is sure to love it!
My last book awaits. It has already arrived and is so very different from all the rest. A sure challenge. I should be getting my completed book back very soon. I can't wait.

A Sweet Image for You

It has been a crazy week getting my little one off to her first ballet class and her first week of school. I am happy to report that it went great and she just loves her new school and her new teacher. I will post some pics for you next week. But until then, here is a sweet baby image for you to enjoy and add to your collection. Have a wonderful weekend.
This is a postcard image sent in 1920 to a friend. This is Ernest on his 1st Birthday many years ago.

Skippy and Daisy

Meet Skippy and Daisy. They are 2 ducks that have been placed in our neighborhood pond and have been adopted by everyone.
Both ducks have been raised from ducklings since Easter by a neighbor and one from a near by farmer. Once they met they have been inseparable. The farmer told us that Daisy, the smaller one is a female. We are not sure about Skippy yet. I guess we will find out this Spring. They are very friendly and come right up to our back gate and bark to eat. We bought a huge bag of cracked corn for them and they are 2 happy ducks!
We hope that they nest around the pond for the winter. We will continue to take care of them. Shelby loves to feed the ducks and definitely sees them as her pets. This is as close to a pet that she will get, so I hope she enjoys it! They are currently sharing their space with about 30 Canadian Geese that have flown in. Everyone seems to be getting along.

My Sweet Girl Turns 4

Shelby Girl is 4! We enjoyed a weekend full of fun to celebrate her birthday with family and friends. One of her surprises was a visit from Big Sister.
Amber and her boyfriend Brian came up from Louisiana to help us celebrate. We took the gang to Savannah for the day. Here is Shelby and Amber cooling off by a fountain.
Amber and Brian are in the throws of getting their PhD's and this was the only window of time they had before classes and writing and comps start. It was great to see them and Shelby adores her big sister.
During our visit this time we stopped into this amazing place. The Savannah Bee Company.
They have done such a good job with this store. The tasting bar is on the right where you can sample all of their honey's, honey comb, cheeses they make, etc. They have lined the place with sleek bottles of golden goodness. They gave something as simple as honey a cool and upscale feel.
This is every parent's delight. A playhouse beehive for the kids to play in and watch the "Bee Movie." There were books and games to explore, too. It let us shop around and spend time and not have to worry bout her getting into anything. Very good idea. We sampled, tasted and bought a few goodies. Make this a stop during your next visit to Savannah. It is located on Broughton Street.
At the end of the day, we stopped to see the ocean on Tybee Island and let Shelby get wet and sandy before we got back in the car. It was a great ending to the day. Now it was time to go home and bake cupcakes for her birthday party in the morning.
Shelby insisted that this year's birthday theme was to be Scooby Doo with green cupcakes. So much for the frilly stuff. Oh well, maybe next year! We had a small party for her and her friends. They got to swim in the pool and then have treats.
Later that day we then had the family over to celebrate and there was more food, more presents and more cake! Shelby was thrilled.
Everyone spoiled her rotten as usual and she is still making her way through the gifts. Thanks to all of you that sent cards and gifts to Shelby for her birthday!
I will always remember her like this. It seems like just yesterday that she was this small. Sweet Shelby, seeing you grow and having you in our lives is our greatest joy. Love you Shelby Girl. Stop growing so fast!!!!

Celebrating Mom!

We took a break from the house packing to celebrate Mom's birthday with a surprise tea lunch with several of her friends. Mom was so surprised and excited to have the time with her gal pals. She is sad to be leaving all of them, so she really enjoyed these few hours of chatting and laughing and shedding a few tears.
This is one of our all time favorite places to sit and linger a bit. Country By The Sea is a wonderful antiques and tea room right up the street from the beach in Avon.
Del is on the left of this photo and has been one of Mom's dearest friends. She spends most of her time in Florida so Mom will actually be much closer to her once she moves to GA. Del is a wonderful crafter, painter and paper artist and has made so many wonderful things for Mom over the years. The lady on the right side of the photo is Joanne and she was our neighbor for many years. Her daughter and I were childhood friends. Mom and Joanne have been friends for almost 40 years. "It takes a long time to grow and old friend."
Here are the party girls. From left to right: Maryanne, Del, Me, Mom, Joanne, Gail and Amy (my sister in law). We all had herbal iced tea and these yummy tea sandwiches.
We enjoyed our lunch and then sang Happy Birthday!
It was great to see Mom so happy. I hope I look as good as she does at 66!!
The birthday cake was her favorite; lemon tea cake with whipped cream. It was delicious.
We finished the party with some favors for her family and friends. Gail made the pretty nose gays and poem and I made the picture collage of Mom as a memento. It was a terrific day and Mom really needed the time to relax. Their house is almost empty and they have been working so hard to pack up after 40 years in this house.
After many truck loads to the storage place and too many boxes to count, they are almost done. They have 2 weeks left and they will finish packing the last minute things, spend time visiting friends that they won't see for awhile and of course spend time remembering the house that we all grew up in. It's been a good house, a safe place, a comfortable place that all of us have enjoyed. We will miss the old place, but it is on to new. It is going to be an exciting new chapter for both of them and we know it will be great!!! We can't wait for you to get to GA. I have waited a long time to have you both close again.

I'm In Baby!!!

I have been tracking this on-line series of classes since Susan Tuttle announced it! The registration opened up this past Saturday night at 9pm. I looked down at my watch at 9:30 and ran to my computer to sign up. I made it in the first 30. I am so excited.

The first class dates are September 21 - October 18. We are going to learn photomanipulation techniques with Photoshop Elements and Photoshop.

Here's what we will be doing each week:

Week 1: We will begin by learning how to alter digital photos in order to give them a retro/vintage style.

Week 2: Teach several ways to create diffused light effects in your photos.

Week 3: Explore converting our color digital images to black and white and sepia toned images.

Week 4: Apply textures to our photos, creating cool grungy and distressed effects. One of the activities will teach you how to create faux TtVs ('through the viewfinder" photos)

This class is currently full, but she will be offering it again.

Stay tuned to see some of my creations.