Happy Friendship Friday

I finally made the trip to my grandparent's old house to pick up the wardrobe!!  My grandfather has been gone for 22 years and my grandmother has been gone for 10 years.  This is probably the nicest piece of furniture they had in their house.  It has been there ever since I can remember.  As far as my dad knows, he thinks it was something that they have had since they were married in 1929.  In looking at it more closely, it appears to be something that my grandfather may have made himself.  The glass was broken out of it by people who had broken into the house.  A lot of the other furniture down there was also stolen.  I am guessing that the people who broke in probably had to make a plan to get that out of there and we managed to get it before they did.  Not easy when the wardrobe is taller than the doorway and part of the flooring on the front porch is falling in.  Anyway, I am thrilled to be able to have salvaged this piece of furniture.  If it is something that my grandfather built, his craftsmanship is extraordinary.  The piece is solid and was very well built for someone without much of an education!!!  Anyway, While I was there, I looked around ad was able to salvage a few other things, such as:

1.  An old dress of my grandmother's.  It is the polyester knit material and is white with green polka dots.  I think it will make a very nice purse or bag.

2.  Some old school books from the 1950's that belonged to my aunt.

3.  An old blue and white chenille blanket that was on my grandparent's bed as long as I can remember.

4.  Some old maps and an old Greyhound Bus Lines brochure, along with some old papers from my aunt's school years.

5.  Three magazines.  An old Better Home and Gardens magazine from January 1968 and two different Time magazines both from 1968.  Those are in much better condition than some that I have that are less than two years old!!!

Anyway, I am thrilled that i am still able to hang on to the memories of my grandparents.  For two uneducated and hard-working people, they raised 5 wonderful children!!  I miss them all the time, but I know that they are looking down on me and my family everyday!!

So, I just want to thank you for stopping by my little space and going back down memory lane with me for a little while.  Hope you are having a wonderful Friendship Friday!!!  Be sure to stop by Create With Joy and share some stories with some old friends or make some new ones!!!

The old wardrobe being loaded into my dad's truck for a move to Little Rock.  Thank you to my dad for helping me to load this and bring it to my house.  And a special thank you to my grandparents.  I love and miss you everyday and hope that you are proud that I did not let this go with the house.

~hugs, mel

Double Post Wednesday--Playing Catch-Up

I know I just posted my Wordless Wednesday, but I found one of my FB friends who is doing a creative at home Wednesday link-up party!!  You know me, I love to show off what I have been doing lately!!!  I post a lot about the cards that I make, but I do much more than just cards!!!  One thing I really love is my flowers in the front.  My mother-in-law owns a nursery and it is easy to get some beautiful flowers!!  I was there a few weeks ago and spotted this vintage blue strawberry pot.  It is a nice size and has three places on the side where you can plant other things!!  No, I did not plant strawberries in the holes, instead I planted some plants that seem to just flow over the side of the planter.

This is probably one of my most favorite planters that I have ever done!!  Wish I had a couple more like this to set around!!  Not sure what everything is in the planter (my mother-in-law picked most of them out).  I do have to say that this makes my house look very welcoming to people when they come over to visit!!!  Thank you Susan for hosting the blog party today!!!  Please stop by and visit her blog!!  She is an amazing woman!!

~hugs, mel

Another Great Wordless Wednesday

I often wonder, as I visit the local veteran's cemetery, about the people who served our country in years past.  I have two family members buried at the Arkansas State Veteran's Cemetery in North Little Rock, Arkansas.  I love to visit in order to pay tribute to the veterans buried there.  Not only because my uncle and grandfather are buried there, but because I feel a sense of pride when I do.  It almost brings tears to me eyes when I visit on a holiday where they put out all the American flags.  I wouldn't even try to begin to guess the number of veterans and their spouses that are buried in the cemetery.  But, to see that people want to have the job of taking care of the cemetery is just simply amazing.  On Memorial Day and 4th of July, the workers set out at the start of their day and place an American flag on the grave of each soldier.  Then, at the end of the day, they set out once again to take up the flags.  If you have never payed tribute to the American soldier in this way, I urge you to do so.  Once you are standing in the large fields of stone among veterans of wars past, it really humbles you to think that many people served this great country in order to protect our freedoms so that people can be free to do what they want to do.  And to know that on the day that I go to meet God; I, too, will be laid to rest among these great heroes of our country.  Ok, enough rambling, here are the photos I have to share today. 

This is my uncle.  He is the uncle that I was closest to my whole life.  He served on the front lines in Korea.  Somehow, he ran into one of his neighbors from his hometown.  His neighbor knew that my uncle's father was disabled.  So, he had my uncle sent back to Arkansas in order to take care of his father.  But not without my uncle serving on the front lines in Korea.

My grandfather, Robert Conrad, served in the Merchant Marines during World War II.  Being a Merchant Marine during the war came with many risks.  Coming under the Coast Guard, these men were basically escorts for merchant ships during war time.  For many years they were not really considered part of the military, according to our government.  Then, back in the 1980's, congress recognized these brave young men as veterans and provided legislation for these veterans to gain full veteran benefits.  Because of this, we were able to lay my grandfather to rest with honor. 

So, if you ever get the chance, make it a point to visit our veterans and tell them thank you.  Thank you for all the sacrifices that they have made to keep this country free.  And don't forget to stop by and join the fun at Create With Joy.

~hugs, mel

Happy Friendship Friday and a Giveaway

Hello and Happy Friendship Friday!!  I am going to do something different this week.  I am going to do a give away of some handmade cards and stationary all packed neatly into a wonderful little box.  What better way to celebrate friendship than to share with others.  Here are some pictures of what I am going to include in the box.  There will be some 4x6 cards that are all unique and no two are the same!!!  There will be some decorated envelopes for those cards.  I will also be including some mini cards with envelopes.  There will even be some bookmarks, book plates, calendar, etc.  I am not sure what all will be in it just yet, but I guarantee you will be surprised!!!  All you have to do is to leave me a comment saying hello.  On Monday, I will pick a random number from all the comments.  That person will win the box of goodies.  Also, don't forget to check out the other great blogs at Create With Joy.  There is always something fun going on over there!!!!!

These are pictures of the box the cards will come in.  I love it and may end up going back and getting another one for myself!!!

These are representative of what will be in the box.  I will hand pick them myself and you will be very surprised by what will be in the box!!!!!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far!!!  See you back here on Monday to pick a winner.  Be sure to leave me a way to get back in touch with you in case you are the winner!!!!

~hugs, mel

Welcome TAo My Little Corner of the World on Friendship Friday

Happy Friendship Friday!!  I love how the community at Create With Joy comes together and shares what is going on in their world with everyone else.  It has been a few days since I have posted.  I have just about figured out that the Blogger app on my phone and tablet turns all of my pictures sideways.  And for the life of me I cannot figure out just how to fix that.  So, I am having to upload all of the pictures from my phone and tablet to my computer.  Thank goodness there is a very easy app to use to do that with!!!!  So, first of all, happy Friendship Friday to everyone.  Hope your week was good.  Hope your spring is a wonderful one so far.  I have had a good one, especially with the weather we have been having here in Arkansas!!!!  I am going to share with you some pictures from around my house.  So ,welcome to my home everyone!!

This first picture is of a page that I completed in my art journal.  I bought some new die-cuts that go with the K & Company lines of paper.  I also found the "Nirvana is not a myth" saying from a magazine.  So, I just decided to put them all together, add some paint and just a little bit of everything!!  I think it turned out great!  Very different than what I am used to but I think I am slowly climbing out of my box and seeing things a little different.

This one is of the bushes that I carried home in my car.  I shall always have a beautiful yard and if I do not, then it is only my fault.  Want to know why???  My mother-in-law owns a nursery!!!  Yes, I still have to pay for everything.  I don't have a problem with that.  But, if I should ever have an ugly yard, then I am the only one to blame!!!  So, off to the nursery I went this Saturday.  You should have seen the back seat, too.  I almost couldn't find the kids when I got home!!!

She had this beautiful blue pot sitting out there at the nursery.  I fell in love with it since it has a vintage feel to it!!  I love making my own containers of flowers to add a little color to the beds with.  I got three plants that kind of grow and spill over the side to plant in the holes on the side.  Then I got a few that you may not always see to add a little bit of visual interest by the front door.  This has to be one of my favorite pots that I planted this year!!

Here is the front of my house.  Notice the green shrub followed by the two purple looking ones.  Those are new this year.  From where the water hose reel is down to where the green bush is, all that was bare and nothing was growing and it looked boring.  So, I got a nice tall bush along with some of the same ones that are in front of the living room.  I really think it looks good, now!!

This is one of the new arrivals around my house!!  I knew this nest was here but never thought about there being baby birds in there.  This one was built above one of my outside lights outside the garage.  Not sure if the egg is just a shell or if it just hasn't hatched yet.  This was the hardest picture to get since it was very high up.  Had to stand on a chair to get the picture.  Then I had to put my camera above it and take the picture all while hoping that the picture turned out decent!!

Our other nest in the back yard had four birds in it.  I didn't know we had this one until my little girl came in the other day with excitement telling me there was a momma bird feeding her baby birds.  So I took my camera out there (my phone was dead) to take the pictures.  All you could see at the time was four little baby bird heads with their beaks open sticking out of the nest.  It was so cute.  The next couple of days passed and one by one, the babies slowly started to leave the nest.  I was able to pet three of them and they seemed to enjoy having their heads rubbed!!

I took this when I got home today.  The momma bird in the front yard nest came by to feed the baby in there.  She kept making her rounds with food every so often throughout the afternoon.  Some of the times you could see the little baby put its beak up and grab whatever food the momma bird had for it.  So very cute, if I should say so myself!!!

So, there you have it.  A little tour of what has been going on around my house the past couple of weeks.  Now, it is off to work for Saturday and Sunday.  Oh, well, I guess I have to make the money somewhere!!!  Hope you all are having a great spring and thank you for stopping by!!  Please feel free to leave me a message and let me know you stopped by my little corner of the world!!!  Maybe next time we meet I will have some pictures of the hydrangeas.  One of them are actually going to bloom this year!!!

~hugs, mel

Inspire Me Monday and Coming to a Mailbox Near You

Happy Monday everyone!!!  Another great Inspire Me Monday at Create With Joy.  I am really loving the mail art thing right now.  Making an envelope is really refreshing!  It just seems to take you from the real world to the place where you would rather be.  I really like to get into my work and will work on a piece until I finish it.  I have been using my colored pencils a lot lately.  I really seem to love how the colors from the pencils just flow across the paper.  I also like to add some little something that makes it my own.  My main inspiration for most of my envelopes came from this first picture.

 

 This is a picture I had thought about while I was at work one night.  I will draw things to keep from falling asleep.  I work nights and it is really hard to fight off Mr. Sandman at times, to I started putting some of my thoughts onto paper.  I have really been working on faces lately.  So, I got to thinking about doing one to look like it was peeking out from the bushes.  I was only going to do a small amount of leaves around the face and then draw something else in the empty space.  But, I got to drawing the leaves and just couldn't stop myself!!!  So, this is the inspiration for the next few pieces of mail art that I did.

 

Since it was brought to my attention after I posted addresses of the people who will be receiving these great pieces, I blocked them out and just put the destination of the card.  I do apologize for posting addresses.  I lost my mind.  I guess I will have to go hunt it down!!!!

These three are inspired from some of my first drawing attempts.  I really love this type of drawing.  It is totally spontaneous and random and I LOVE that!!  It is kind of an "anything goes" type of drawing and no two will be alike!!  The bottom one is the first one that I made.  The top one is the second one and then I finally made it to the third one.  I really love these!!!

 These two are ones I decided to use some of my scrap papers to make.  I don't remember off the top of my head who made these papers.  I want to say 7 Gypsies, but not totally sure.  They are really cool papers that already look like a collage.  Then I pasted the large number, the stamps, and the typewriter and globe pieces.  The number along with the typewriter and globe are made by Pink Paislee.  After I got everything glued on, I decided it needed a little bit more.  So, I decided to draw on them.  After I finished, I stepped back and knew that is what they needed to be complete.  So, that is what I have for Inspire Me Monday (now Tuesday).  I started this post and worked on it several times between wrangling kids, cooking dinner, giving baths, etc.  So, here it is Tuesday afternoon and I am just now finishing up the post!!!!!  Thank you for coming by my little corner of the world.  Please leave me a note to let me know that you stopped by!!!

~hugs, mel

Inspire Me mondays

WOW!!!!!  I was one of the featured readers over at Create With Joy.  My mail art made the "front page" along with some other very inspiring ladies!!  This week I guess you could say my paints and my colored pencils are inspiring me.  First of all, I do take my colored pencils most everywhere.  My purse is big enough that i can slip one of my art journals in there for a quick picture wherever I go.  So, when the creativity bug hits, I can satisfy it right away!  This weekend I sat down and did a few pages in my journal.  I have never been one to share my feelings on paper, so i just write whatever comes to mind at the time I am working on a particular page.  My pages are totally random and may not make sense, but I guess that tells you something about my life.  The first two pages with the faces on them are really just practice.  You have to start somewhere in order to get better!!!!  The "LOVE" page was inspired by the big "love" from one of the pieces of paper that i used.  So, I went with that particular theme.  The last page was my first page I did where I totally painted all the person without drawing it out first.  I love red, so when i noticed that i was using a lot of reds, I went with it from there.  And yes, I love red, jeans and T's, my music too loud, and puppies!  Thank you for stopping by and leave a message letting me know you were here!!! Also, I do apologize for the pictures being sideways. My blogger app on my tablet turns them all sideways!!!

~hugs, mel