Summer Swap!

I participated in Amy from Bumble Bee Lane's Farmhouse Summer Swap!

 I received my swap gifts from Becky at Ginger Crème Hollow

Everything was wrapped up so nice and Prim!

 Such lovely goodies!

 I collect Rag Dolls and Becky made me such a cute one holding her pet crow!

Her fabrics are so pretty!

The pillow is quite lovely, too!

 A pin cushion, a silver star ornie, a note pad....

 ...some bowl fillers with the same material as the doll and pillow!

She also included some melting tarts that smell wonderful!

Thank you, Becky for your generosity and thank you Amy for hosting yet another wonderful Swap!

}}Hugs{{
Vicky

Salt Therapy!

 This was my view last week.

And this is pretty much what I did every day.

Well, some of this .....

And, some of this (my daughter trying to help me back up)!

It was great! Some much needed time away.

We left our handicapped daughter, Audrey, with her older sister one day and her wonderful caregiver for the last few days.

It did all of us a world of good!

A baby Stingray right at my feet!

We love staying at the Summer House on Crescent Beach.

It's our favorite 'go to' get-away.

And the best part is.....

We always leave with a smile on our faces!

}}Hugs{{
Vicky

ANYTHING GOES!

Our OFG Team and the FAAP Team on Etsy are collaborating and having an "ANYTHING GOES" Celebration!

What does that mean? As an Etsy buyer, it means NEW things from some of your favorite Etsy sellers AND, possibly, some coupons to help with your purchases! Here's a link to a small movie to see some of the items for sale.

https://magis.to/Og8EY0gbQjk5AQRpYw?l=vsm&o=i&c=c

Also a link to Etsy in case you want to stop by.

https://www.etsy.com/

If you do, place these call letters ATGCele in Etsy's search bar. OR, just look on my right side bar at the top and click on the 'Anything Goes' Label.

But hurry as it's only for 4 DAYS!!

Thanks for your support!

}}Hugs{{
Vicky

The Responsiblities of June

 I have been so busy throughout this past month. Didn't mean for it to be that way but had a few responsibilities to follow through on. I was asked to teach a couple of

art classes at Girl's Camp this year. I love to teach art especially to kids so I had no problem accepting this assignment. Mother Nature wasn't very helpful as the temperature soared and the heat index sat at a toasty 106 degrees the first day! How appropriate that this was our first project!

 The theme for the camp was 'Face the Son'. They'd decorated a lot of their sites with 'Beach' décor and Sunflowers so my second class was a given!

The Girls did great with sewing up their Sunflowers and not near as messy as the painting!

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I've been getting back to my creating/painting. I haven't had the urge to do much of anything lately so it was nice to finally find some 'mojo' and come up with some new designs. This is a smaller version of a personalized pencil that I make.

 They make great gifts for that special Teacher!

 These little Raggedy Flower Dolls are ADORABLE and so much fun to make. They are a design/pattern by Cedar Creek Primitives (Karen Stumbo). I made mine using Gingham fabrics. I'll be listing all of these and even more in a few more weeks when our OFG Team - Old Farmhouse Gathering Team - has a new "Anything Goes" celebration. We are collaborating with the FAAP Team so it should be a good one!

We finally realized the water isn't coming back to the natural levels anytime soon so hubby decided to have a new boatlift installed. We haven't been able to get the boat in the 'house' for over 3 years now. Watch it be this year that the tropical storms and hurricanes decide to come! That's what it takes to fill our lakes and rivers here in Florida and it's been dry for a while now.

 This little man spent the week at Twilight Camp! He is on his way to receiving his Webelo Badge in the Cub Scout program. They had Archery, BB Guns, a visit from the Swat Team, CSI Investigations, and some fun water play throughout the week.

I have broken my second toe on my right foot so I've been laid up a bit this week. Quite irritating limping along on a very swollen foot but my life doesn't grant me the opportunity to sit and nurse it. I can't get a shoe on and the blessed boot they give you is so cumbersome that it's better to do without!

 I received these in the mail yesterday and am looking forward to painting on some existing surfaces that I've already cut out. These are by Annie Lang. I LOVE Fall/Halloween!

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Praying for West Virginia. Boy, have they had enough already.

AND, of course, the people in Turkey. Will the evil never end?

Happy Summer to you and yours!

}}Hugs{{
Vicky

Blue and Gold Banquet and Summertime!

I forgot to share some pics of our Cub Scouts Blue and Gold Banquet that we had in April. It was the 'Minion' Theme but I can't remember the whole gist of it. I was in charge of setting it up so I did a little 'crafting'. Also made some Ziti for consumption by those little cubbies! Take a look!

This one is my little man. He'll be a Webelo Scout in a few more months! Such a goof ball!

We had so much fun but the best part is when it's all over with!

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School is out and we've started with water activities.

Of course, that's easy to do when you are surrounded by it! Here we come Summertime!

Hope yours is a good one, too!

}}Hugs{{
Vicky

Celebrating the Summer

Americana Pin Keep Swap

I'm still taking naps but was able to participate in Wendy's, @ Ravenwood Whimzies, Pin Keep Swap. I received my package a few days ago from Amy @ Bumblebee Lane. The design was supposed to be Americana  

and Amy did not disappoint. She has a very generous soul and I am so happy to be the recipient of such a lovely Pin Keep! Take a look at these pictures!

 

 

 

Isn't that brilliant!! LOVE how she used another spindle for the flag holder! Her additional goodies were wonderfully received, too! Some delicious smelling Yankee Candles, a Peppermint bar of soap, a cute note pad, and, some delicious vanilla/caramel Tea! I love to swap and Wendy always makes them fun. Thanks, Wendy! You can visit Amy HERE to see what she got from me!

I started painting a bit again. Trying to finish some UFO's that piled up in my bin over the last year.

Everything from School Pencils to Christmas!

I'll still take a break through the Summer but should be back in full swing come August. The twins are graduating from 5th grade this month and so my hands are busy with year-end projects and school parties. They were safety patrols this year and I'm in charge of their Hot Dog BBQ in another week. Piece of cake! Yeah, they'll have some of that, too!!

Hope your Spring has sprung and those nasty storms out there are far from you. We're hitting Summer now with temps at 90 already. At least we had a lovely Spring. Doesn't happen too often in my little corner of Florida!

 



}}Hugs{{Vicky

Taking Some Time!

I've really needed it! Taking some time off to regroup and rest and take care of things that seems to have fallen apart without my attention. I've always said my 'art is my therapy' and it is, however, it can be a bit too much sometimes when you overload yourself.

So, I've been slowly, and I do mean s-l-o-w-l-y, getting some forgotten projects done while, intermittently, taking naps.

Awwwwwe, the restorative nap! Not always so as there are time when I wake up grumpy and even groggier than when I went down. We have a handicapped daughter (she's 29 years) who requires my constant care. She has a seizure disorder and, when she has them, lots of times it mean no sleep for me at night. Now that I'm not out at the 'saws' and my paint table, I can take a little more time to catch up on zzzzzzz's that I've missed.

I made this for a sweet lady who comes in a couple of times a week and takes care of our daughter. It gives me some time to get our for errands or 'me time'. Sometimes I stick around the house and work outside but it's my time to do what I want. She is our Angel and requested a sign. So I made it for her.

Also just a couple of Easter/Spring gifts for the kid's Teachers.

Our eldest son came in last night to drop my grand-dog off. He has a weekend trip up north and so I said we'd 'pup sit' for him.

Hanns is a handsome fella! He is purebred German-German Shepherd not Amercian-German. He is HUGE! Scared me to death the first time I met him as I am not a fan of big dogs but he won me over fast! He is so sweet and gentle which really surprised me. So, I'll watch him for a few days and we'll solidify our bond just a bit more!

Right now my Etsy shop is closed but I'll be opening back up in another week.....only for a month, though. I'm closing for the summer and anticipate being back for the Fall with some new pieces. Hopefully those summer months will give me the time I need to finish those 'forgotten' projects and allow me some extra time for naps along the way.

Hope your Spring has sprung and you're blooming where you're planted.

}}Hugs{{
Vicky