SATURDAY SERENITY - January 23, 2016

During the last few years, I've learned to believe and accept that life is much more difficult if you are continually trying to row upstream! I think serenity is letting things go and going with the flow of life.

I think this quote below says it all about life. This especially applies to my husband and myself over the last few years as we searched for another home of our own, after many toils and troubles in our lives. 

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.

Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow.

Let reality be reality.

Let things flow naturally forward

in whatever way they like.

~ Lao Tzu ~ 

In our home search during the last 2 years, we lost several homes we thought were just right for us.... but they were not meant to be....... and we had to let them go...... gracefully.....and with confidence that the flow of life would lead us to just the right place.

We are here now. I was walking the other day and with great delight saw that our little Willow Creek was happily flowing with water again! I love water....... and was missing it here in our little town where we've landed...... and I felt such serenity as I gazed out over the ripples and eddys.

Our reality today is from the natural and spontaneous changes that have brought us here. We will settle back and go with the flow of this journey set before us.

 

My Etsy shop goodies for Valentine's Day.

It's only a month until Valentine's Day! Can you believe it? Time just marches on doesn't it? 

I thought I'd show you some little delights I've made and have placed in my Etsy shop, in case you need a special little gift for a loved one. I'll put a link to each item.

Pink painted canvas board art - "be mine" "cutie pie" with lace, ribbon, buttons and a sweet little crocheted pink heart. This vintage image and other pretty papers have been decoupaged onto the canvas. I've added a fabric ruffle along the bottom. Size is 5x7 with a pink satin ribbon attached for hanging.

 Go to this link to my Etsy shop to purchase this item.

Next, I have another sweet red canvas board art (below):

Oh my! "Sweetness" and "babycakes" vintage photo and pretty papers all decoupaged onto the red painted canvas board. I've added pretty lace trim, little satin bows, pearls and another pretty red crocheted heart (that I made myself). Hang this with the red satin ribbon attached at the top. Size is 5x7.

Go to this link to my Etsy shop to purchase this item.

A doily peeks out from behind the photo, and I've added a fabric ruffle with the words "love" in red. So sweet!

Tiny envelopes and tags anyone?? I have several sets of 8 teeny tiny envelopes with little teeny tiny tags and glossy "stamps" to slip inside the envelopes - how cute would these be to tuck inside little gifts?

Or make a card with the little envelopes on front - with a surprise tag inside!

 

Here is the link to my Etsy shop for this item - I have several sets and each one varies a little.

Pretty crochet table mats - measures 11-1/2 inches across in bright and happy colors. Perfect for your table centerpiece with a vase full of spring flowers, or to set a potted plant on.

Bright pink, gold, orange and a soft mint green, with a cream scalloped trim.

Here's the link at my Etsy shop for this pretty "brights" table mat. I have several different colors to choose from.

Nice Fall colors. 

NOTE: If you don't find the Fall table mat (above) or other colored mats in my shop, please email me. I may have put them on "expired" status and I can reactivate them if you wish to purchase any.

Subway Art Valentine's Day with precious words. This is an "instant digital download" from my shop!  You download this to your own computer, and print it out to any size you want.

I've also included a set of 9 (digital download) tags to use as gift tags, or little messages to tuck inside gifts.

Or you can print it out and make a card! Or print an 8x10 and frame it as a pretty gift for that special someone in your life.

Here is the link to my Etsy Shop for this particular Subway Art. I have several others for boy and girl birthdays and St. Patrick's Day, plus some with quilting themes. 

Here are some other gift ideas from my shop.

Round fabric basket liner all decked out with hearts and lace.

"Timeless" mini pocket album with tags inside. My shop has more photos of this sweet little album. Here is the link to my Etsy shop.

Teacup and teapot themed gift bags... to give as a gift or to put your gift in! The peach bag and lavender bag come with two pretty gift tags that match the fabric trim.

Retro kitty gift bag I made with vintage fabric (does not include a tag).

A set of eight (8) sewing themed A2 sized cards with envelopes. Great gift for the seamstress/quilter in your life.

I also carry vintage fabrics and MANY paper rosettes/pinwheels of varying colors.  I also have 16 different digital printables of various quotes and some with photo backgrounds. These are also "instant downloads". (Great instant and inexpensive gifts - just print out and frame).

All items in my shop are handmade by me.. with lots of love thrown in (except for the vintage fabrics of course). 

If you want to view my entire shop inventory, please visit this LINK to my Etsy Shop, MyPinkPaperCottage. You might just find something there that piques your interest!

Enjoy!


 

Life on pause mode.....

I don't have anything in particular to blog about today, as I've been SICK for almost two weeks and my life has totally been on PAUSE! So thought I'd try something different today and just start writing with nowhere in mind to go with it. 

I have no plan for today's blog, other than I know I should post "something" as haven't been here since before Christmas. and... where in the heck did the time go? 

I've been in a stupor since 2 days before New Year's. My husband and I both got sick one day apart.. him first, then me. Not fun at all.. we couldn't take care of each other (though does hubby really take care of wifey when she's sick? not usually!). 

We both have spent the last NINE days in our jammies (at least I have - he got dressed and actually put his shoes on!). I haven't been this sick for 5 or 6 years, but won't dwell on it since I'm finally feeling better and feeling human again! 

I'm just going to post some random pictures with a running commentary.. that's about all I'm up to today!  And I know everyone is so done with Christmas so will mention it just a little, as at least I felt good then.  Although.... I was so worn out from our move, and then all the work we did, and then company, and Thanksgiving, that Christmas decorating just didn't happen much this year. I guess we deserve to have a year now and then when we aren't perfect and don't get it all done!

I think my little (fake) tree had the sum total of about 10 ornaments on it! We got it put up on maybe Dec. 20th and then I couldn't find the tub of ornaments in our garage.. and I mean we looked everywhere. I found a few little stuffed fabric ornaments that I had made 30 years ago in the one tub I brought into the house of "soft goods" so stuck those on the tree.  and found a little (big?) canvas board I had made a few years ago, so hung that on too. Poor little tree.

Looks pretty good at night with the lights! I really enjoy the lights - yes the tree is still up.

Our kitty, Maddie sure did like that tree (and still does)... of course. And she only knocked it over once!  Not much decorating happened after we got the tree up. And I still felt good.. but no motivation this year for some reason to decorate. So I didn't.

Oh.. I did manage to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I was SO craving chocolate! This was in between making 18 gifts for Christmas presents. That's another whole story of what happened during the month of December. Maybe I'll show some of them in another post. I ate a few (cookies) and ended up giving the rest to our new neighbors... ages 58 and 59 and they are raising their FOUR grandchildren! Yikes. I felt like they needed some sweets, bless them.

OK... Christmas came... we had our own little event at our house.. had a nice breakfast, opened a few gifts. Table of gifts below - poor tree in the background.

Went to my sister's house 70 miles to the south of us at an elevation of about 2,000 feet higher, on Dec. 26th and got to see my nephew and his fiance, and my great nephew. What a little cutie he is!

Did I mention that he was sick??? coughed all over everyone... hum.m.m.m.m. did most everyone there get sick? yes.. except for his mom of course. She's immune. But they live in Florida so it was a special treat to see him and give him a few hugs. He had NO INTEREST in opening his gifts!

My sister made a GORGEOUS quilt for our great nephew. It's a monkey theme and love the bright colors.  She makes such beautiful quilts (sigh... I'm envious).

Here's my sister's picture perfect "log cabin" in the snow. Did I tell you they had about 2-1/2 feet of snow??? Yes... I just moved from there in October... I'm so glad! We had NO snow!

My little (partial) family at my sister's house. Me in front in red (God did I eat that much? I had just run from the car where I set the camera... ran through 2 feet of snow and up the (icy) steps so I could be in the picture. 

I really didn't take that many pictures at my sister's house.. for some reason... I don't know why as I usually take hundreds. Now I regret it. I had decided to try to spend more time visiting and less time with the camera always in my hand. Now I wish I had more.  It was a lovely time and lots of food.... which is a good thing, right?

So Christmas comes and goes.....and I knew my nephew and finance, and my other nephew's wife and her son (the ones who live in Florida) were going to stop by our house on Dec. 28th on their way back to Portland, so I decided NOW was the time to decorate! So I got busy and put a few things on our mantle and shelves around the house.

My Christmas mantle! Everything I had was in my soft goods tub.. and I had bought a few glittery pine boughs, so those got stuck in a little vase!

This is the extent of my decorating... star paper wreath was also in my soft goods tub!

Well.. it did look festive and I've enjoyed it immensely since then (while being a couch spud).  And on a side note.... I DID finally find the tub of tree ornaments, but they never did get put on the tree.

I got a pretty picture hung in our bedroom above my dresser, and a quilt hung on the wall over our bed. Oh.. and also put up my mom's tea cup shelf that has been sitting on the floor in our bedroom since we moved in. I wanted to paint it white first. Well.... that never happened did it? so up on the wall it went.. though no teacups on it yet (see the empty shelf on the wall on the right?).

Pretty quilt on my pink walls. This is supposed to be my "cottage style" bedroom, but not there yet. DARK furniture keeps being added (hint hint hubby.. I don''t need a dark wood headboard!). You promise to paint it white don't you? And I'll paint that teacup shelf white too. It's a deal. And fleecy blanket on the bed for our new kitty. this room is NOT picture perfect yet! But I do love the quilt on the wall.

My mom's beautiful antique lamp....... plus a thrift shop picture in pretty pinks hung behind my dresser... all done (finally) in preparation for company. Isn't that how most things get done anyway???/ company coming? And I even dusted off the dresser!

Note to self: That dresser needs to be painted white also!

Company came and went on Dec. 28th.... Dec. 29th hubby gets sick.  Dec. 30th I get sick. New Year's comes and goes while we are moaning and groaning and feeling sorry for ourselves.

See the frozen "fog" (also called hoarfrost) on my little vine maples that I planted last Fall? It's been COLD here and house is SO cold and we've been cold. (I wear leggings under sweat pants, a pair of normal socks and wool socks over them and heavy fleece lined slippers, and my feet STILL are cold. A t-shirt, long sleeved thermal shirt and sweater over that.) Those little white things that look like thorns or stickers are just the frost from the fog. Was so pretty the other day - taken from inside the house of course (in my jammies - of course).  It's been COLD here though not down to zero thank goodness. Most nights in the low 20's.

All three of our (outdoor) cats get to be inside at night. A first for us. The two black cats have been outdoor cats for years and usually stay in our (somewhat heated) garage at night. But with our new kitty, hubby as decided that it's too cold for the two big ones to be out in the garage (well SHE got to be in the house, but not the two big ones).. and now all of a sudden, they all get to sleep in at night! They've finally accepted little Maddie onto their couch bed, though somewhat reluctantly.

My black female with the bright eyes, looks a little perturbed still.

I got a wonderful gift for Christmas from my sister. A Sizzix Big Shot die cutting and embossing machine! I'm so thrilled - a fun new toy to play with.. though really haven't played too much since I've been sick.  I did manage to make some "thank you" cards last week using an embossing folder I bought 2 years ago, in anticipation of getting an embossing machine.

I ran a glue stick over the embossed designs and then sprinkled glitter all over.. you can't see it in the pictures though. They sure turned out pretty and were super easy! I LOVE those birdhouses!

That's the extent of any crafting I've done since I've been sick.

And that's all of my exciting news for now.  I'll show more projects made with my Sizzix once I get some cutting dies and more emboss folders. I'm excited to try some fancy cards and flip cards, etc. There is so much I want that I can't decide where to start with the cutting dies. 

I've been spending alot of time on YouTube and Amazon since I've been sick.. making a wish list on Amazon and getting ideas on what cutting dies I want on You Tube. You Tube is my best friend right now!

I hope everyone is finding a little time to relax after the holidays and that you aren't sick!

Note to self:  I need to change my blog header!

Bye for now...............