Everyday Cookies at Sweet Woodruff Acres

Okay, this is a treat for me!  I had sent a submission into Somerset Studio magazines in October and this week I recieved an advanced issue of "Gallery Summer 2008" with my art included!  What a treat!  Thank you, Somerset Studio!  My canvas was a book cover from an old Reader's Digest book.  I love the art on those books and pick them up for free from our library's giveaway box.  (I mentioned this back here.)  I painted the cover with gesso and just built it up after that.  I named the piece "Fly Away Home":

And at the back of the issue is where they put the instructions.  The typos (such as "rings" for "wings") were done at the studio.:

Here's what I wrote on October 3, 2007 about this art: 

This art represents my sentiments as my daughter is in her third year of college, away from home.  With tears in my eyes I’ve watched from the moment she took flight the first time until now.  I know time is getting short as to the day her wings are fully developed and she makes a permanent nest outside of mine.  She will always have home in her heart, and yet she’ll begin the cycle herself and create her own home.  When we send our kids off to college our desire is that whatever they are they will be a good one.  Once they are established their beautiful wings will always return home to the master nest.

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Here's a little story for you!  A couple weeks back I decided to visit all the bloggers who blogged about their hankies for the Show and Tell Sunday.   I decided to start at the bottom of the list, (and never got any further after the first one!), which was Shabby Olde Potting Shed.  After I read a post or two I immediately sent off an email to Lea asking her for her mailing address!  I told her I was "safe"!  As you know I sell hand painted shabby-style signs and have been for a few years now.  When I first started making the signs I used pine, but now I only use MDF.  The quality of the pine just got too bad to work with, too many open knots and too many repairs I'd have to make to the board before I even began to start painting.  But I had one sign left in my office/studio that read, "Won't you come to my garden, I'd like my roses to meet you!".  It was my last sign made of pine and I had been wanting to GIVE it away!  (Sorry, I was going to have a drawing here, but then found Lea!)  I sent the sign to Lea, and since then have found out her mother passed away 15 months ago.  I had no idea this sign would arrive just a few days from Mother's Day, when Lea needed a blessing.  When I read her posts about her mother (and some previous ones) I just cried, as you see, I didn't know about her sadness until AFTER I sent the sign.  When I sent the sign I made sure Lea knew it was a "blessing" and not a RAK (random act of kindness), I specially wanted to bless her.  Sometimes you've just got to listen to the Still Small Voice, you know, whenGod whispers something in your ear.  Well, just go read about Lea and the sign and her mother on her blog, here.  It might not seem like much to you, but the just 5 minutes before I read Lea's post on her blog I had taken the beautiful picture of the sun rays shinning through our tall cedar tree (in my previous post here), and I thought of God's glory.  Hopefully Lea won't mind I've borrowed her picture here:

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Here's a few of  the signs I painted this week:

This first one is going on a Candy Table (or candy bar) at a wedding reception!  Wish I could go along with the sign, I *love* candy!-

This is one of my custom family signs.  This back background is one that I offer in my eBay store.-

This one is going in a little girl's room:

This next one is a new one I just painted today.  It's listed on Etsy here:

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Goodness gracious!  There's a  new book in town!  And of the 5 authors, four of them have blogs and are having blog drawings and giveaways.  The book is called "Postmak:  LA".  I've got a copy coming my way, I'll post pictures when it arrives.  Meanwhile start your blog hopping at Teresa's blog, {My Minutia} and go from there!  Congratulations on the book to Teresa McFadden, Charlotte Lyons, Pam Garrison, Rebecca Sower, Carolyn Peeler and Amy Hanna.  The site they are selling from (LuLu).  Here's a picture of the book (from Teresa's blog):

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Guess who I got to have here yesterday? Ellie, our little 7 month old granddaughter!

She looks so serious in this photo!  Everytime I'd snap a picture she'd give me this look!  She does smile and laugh, but may photography is serious business to her!  I'm making something for her, and hope to show it soon!  Her brother, John Mark, was "working" with daddy!  (His favorite activity.) 

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Have a great evening!

Blessings!

*Heidi*

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Hope you all had a weekend, and a good Mother's Day!

On Friday morning when I stepped outside my *new-but-still-in-the-construction-phase* front door, heading to work (in an office attached to our home), this was my view:

The tree the sun is shinning through is a tall cedar, (if you look to the left there is a rope swing that Mark put this up on a broken branch at least 15 years ago!).  It was a wonderful way to start the day!

On Saturday we both spent a couple hours mowing and gardening.  I sure was sore after that!  But today when I went outside to walk around I knew the pain was worth it:

Here's a row of metal chairs sitting by my white lilac bush:

The blue one is one I got at the dump last year!   Mark hates to take me to the dump when he goes, he tells me we're NOT supposed to take stuff out.  Who wouldn't take this blue metal chair home?  And WHO would take it to the dump in the first place? 

The two rusty white chairs on the right are ones that Mark's foster parents gave us about 25 years ago!  And they were OLD when we got them!  They have layers and layers of paint. 

The green one, which is a rocking chair, was one of 3 they gave us, but I talked Mark into sandblasting it and painting it a few years ago.  I think I'm going to leave the other two rusty ones the way they are.  I love their charm, how they've aged as gracefully as was in their power!   

The chairs are sitting in front of my white lilac bush, which I grew from a little start a friend gave me about 5 years ago.  On Mother's Day Mark always brings me breakfast in bed, and on my tray this morning he put a sprig of these white lilacs.  That was a treat to wake up such a beautiful scent!  (and the coffee too, I only get coffee in bed on Mother's Day!) Here's a closeup of these fragrant flower:

When I sat down at my piano at the church today there was a huge bouquet of flowers that included pink rhodies and very fragrant lilacs!  The bouquet sits on a table right in front of me.  We had a guest speaker today who spoke of floral bouquets.  Each element representing something Biblical, such as the vase being a jar of clay, with God's thumb print on it or the water in the vase as the Living Water.  The flowers he spoke of represented people in our lives.  It was a very good message! 

I got to talk to my mom on the phone today (she lives about 10 hours from us).  She and my dad sang a duet in their church today called, "Hello Central, Give Me Heaven".  They sent up the sheet music to me this week, knowing I would enjoy both the sheet music as well as the song itself!

Blessings to you all!

*Heidi*

 

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Go ahead and try it.  Print something out on fabric. Yes, right there on your computer printer.  I've shown you several times already.  I survived.  You will to!  Just save these images (Right click, then SAVE AS...), then print them on fabric.  You can try the freezer paper trick, which is to just iron on fabric to the freezer paper, which you've cut to printer paper size.  OR  You can just very carefully scotch-tape all the perimeter of the fabric to paper, then gently feed it into your printer.

What you'll end up with is a piece of fabric that you can cut and sew, or even glue (using fabric glue) to you latest project!  A tote, a journal cover, maybe a note card.  Anything!  Go ahead and try it!  To get you started, here's some silhouettes.  (I've posted these before, but I'll post them again so you don't have to go looking in my archives!).

 

 

I made a sweet wall hanging for my mother for Mother's Day.  I used vintage sheet music to print the words on, which says, "Mother, Always caring for her nest."   To make the words pop a little I used glitter.  For the bird's nest i used a branch from one of our trees that had a little moss on it, it looked perfect with my little birdie resting on it.  My mother loves birds and I guess I picked that up from her. 

 

My girls call me the "bird lady".  I feed all the birds in Oregon right off our deck.  Today Iwatched in amazement at the pretty yellow finches feeding in my feeder.  Then sailing in beside the sweet yellow bird along came a Strawberry Finch!  What a lovely sight.  Right about then the sun finally broke through.  I went out and moved four rose bushes.  I know, it might be a little late in the season to move roses, but it was a "move 'em or loose 'em" sort of deal.  You know, Mark and that new lawn mower....he's trying to cut a path where I've planted roses (or was that visa versa-depends on who you ask).  But not to worry, I found better spots for them anyway.  Plus I was able to spend some time outside while the sun was out! 

Melissa Frances is doing a giveaway for some lu containers that she's designed.  Go post a comment in her blog to be entered! 

Mimi is a new blogger!  Go now to her blog, Dandelion Wishes, and say "hi"!  Mimi makes the cutest cards! And she has an Etsy store, one of her items is soldered charms.  Remember back to my Hankie Project Day?  Well Mimi made a charm with a piece of vintage hankie...which is what I'm going to do with my pile of hankie scraps I had left over!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Blessings!

*Heidi*

hwoodred at 10:47:41 PM PDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 7 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

You just have to know one of my favorite things to do is prepare a birthday dinner!  On Saturday night this was our menu:

Baby Back Ribs (grilled by Mark), Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad, Fruit Salad (made by Anja), Jello Salad (for John Mark), Olive Garden Bread Sticks, Steamed Peas & Carrots, Macaroni & Cheese (for John Mark) and Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake!

(Yes, do check out the link for the breadsticks. In addition to the recipe I sprinkle sea salt on these.  Serve with real butter. They are so easy and so good!)

Kris, Melissa, John Mark and precious Ellie came;  My brother, Charlie, and his wife, Anja came.  And Jessica pulled up just a couple hours before we started!  Mark was at the grill!

Here's the birthday girl, with me, Jessica and John Mark (who had a mouthful of fish crackers!):

I sewed an apron for Melissa's birthday gift, using Butterick pattern # B4945:

The pattern has some cute styles, I hope to make another one soon :

 

 

Happy 26th Birthday, Melissa!

 

I am making a couple more items, using the same fabric as the apron.  Hopefully I'll finish those up this week!

Blessings!

*Heidi*

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Mon Ami Cafe & Antiques  is my favoirte coffee/cafe/antique shop!  I stopped by there last Saturday and took some photos for today's "Sunday Show and Tell", hosted by Cerri (Little Pink Studio).  Here's just a few of the many pictures I took:

Good food.  Always.  And I always order white chocolate mocha.  Always.

The writing on the wall has been going on for years.  After visiting for probably 10 years, I finally had the courage to ask for the marker and I signed the wall for the first time!

There is a large glass case that holds more vintage jewerly than you can imagine:

All through the store there are vinettes, that are arranged by theme, or color, or patina, or whatever, always a joy to shop through:

 

 

There's always fun signs, and this one caught my eye right away:

I live an hour away from this shop, which is located in Florence, Oregon.  If you are ever in Florence, be sure to shop and shop here, you'll thank me for telling you about it! 

We had a wonderful birthday celebration for Melissa last night. I'll post pictures this week.  And Jessica made it home safe and sound, just one strap across the load in the back of the pick up truck.  (I forgot to take a picture.)  As we were unloading everything, she saw the abundance of tie dow straps Mark had put in the back pouch for her to use.  She said, "Oh, that's where they were!"  She made it home fine and didn't loose a thing!  Thankfully!

Congratulations to my nephew and his wife, (Daniel & Ruby), on their college graduation yesterday! 

This afternoon, after church, Mark and I worked on our porch.  The porch deck is finished and today we built the stairs!  Looking good!

Blessings!

*Heidi*

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It's Friday!  Yeah, I love weekends, especially this one...Jessica comes home from college tomorrow, and tomorrow night we're having The Party for Melissa's 26th birthday!  How did time fly by so fast and now I have 26 and 21 year old daughters?  I feel like I was just 25 the other day!   ;)

I'll show you what I made for Melissa next week...after she opens it!  And I'll show you how Jessica packed the truck on her own after she pulls up tomorrow!  For today I want to show you some fabulous mail!  I have to tell you that blogging rocks!  It's da bomb.  It's so fun!  How could you not blog?  I've met the nicest, kindest, most generous people ever since I began blogging in November of 2006. 

As you know, my offer for brown-paper-bag-scrapbooks is STILL GOOD... If you post on my blog on "500, Yes, You Read that Right" , then email me with your address, I will be happy to send you a free brown-paper-bag-scrapbook.  Just ask.  No strings, no cost.  It's my pleasure to give to the blogging community at large a small token of my thanks for all the fun we have here!  Well, a special gal, Marilyn (who has no blog, but should!), sent a "thank you" back to me for the scrapbook I sent to her!  This was a treat, take a look:

Hankies with hand crocheted edges, a delicate rose doilie, a silk pouch filled with mother-of-pearl buttons...all from one special person, Marylin L.!  Thank you!

Yesterday I also got a special gift from Ann (Keeping Up With The Tatums).  And I will tell you, it's hard to keep up with Ann, she's the most creative person around! I love her style of crafting with vintage papers, yet her "look" is so crisp and new!  She's got more of these birdies in her Etsy shop, Duct Tape and Denim. 

But don't stop there, check out her altered spoons!  They are so creative!  I made a ton of spoon magnets, and now Ann makes me want to pull more of my vintage spoons out to craft some more!  (If only there were more hours in my day!).  Go look in her shop, you'll *love* everything there!  And, thank you Ann for this birdie.  The paper is one of my favorite hymns, "He's the Lily of the Valley".  And I love the paper flowers, too!

And, in yesterday's mail, I received my tag from Jessi (Scrappy Jessi).  We did a one-on-one tag swap!  If you want to swap tags with her (or me!) just ask!   Her tag is so cute, check it out:

I'll be showing my pictures from my favorite anitque/cafe, "Mon Ami" on Sunday!

Blessings!

*Heidi*

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WANTED: THE SUN

If the sun doesn't come out pretty soon...well, let's just say all this rain and wintery weather is not making me happy.  To add a little bright yellow-y sunshine tonight I made Lemon Squares.  The lemons are some I brought back from California over Spring Break, from my sister Sallie's lemon tree...in her back yard!  Mark loved them and has been eating them like oranges. Speaking of Sallie, it's her birthday this Sunday.  And, guess what?  It's my daughter Melissa's birthday, too!  Then a couple days latter it's my sister Kathy's birthday.  Happy Birthday to my daughter and my sisters!

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There are three birthdays in my family this next week!  So I need to hussle!  For one of my sisters I made a reversable tote and a pair of matching towels.  The towels have nothing to do with the tote, other than the strip of fabric I sewed on was left over from the tote and I had a few new towels!  For the tote I {roughly} used the instructions from this Better Homes & Garden site, Vintage Fabric Tote Bag.  I made it completely reversable by finishing all the edges before sewing it together.  I wanted to try using fabrics that really contrasted, and I like how it turned out!

Here's the towels with the tote:

Today I sent off another custom sign order.  Here are the two signs I sent:

I won!  I won one of Kim's (Because I Said So) daily birthday countdowns on her blog! She sent some fabulous vintage items, check it out:

Time for a post office run, and a stop at the lumber-yard for more sign wood.   Enjoy American Idol tonight, making sure you have a good snack, too!

Blessings!

*Heidi*

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