Cloth bags revolution!!!

Hi all, my new mantra is "Where's your cloth bags"!?

I finally have gotten into the routine of using only cloth bags for my shopping trips. And I will even run back to the car to retrieve them in my hurriedness to get into the store.
Really, there's no reason to use plastic anymore! I encourage you all to do the same.
I will admit though that once in a while I do ask for plastic so I can reuse them in my trash cans at home but that is a rare request!
I was reading an article in Body and Soul magazine the other day on the statistics on plastic bag usage etc. and this one line just caught my attention and made me really think about what I am doing by using plastic. It said "on average, we use a plastic bag for 12 minutes; it will persist in the landfill for 1,000 years".
That statement just struck me straight to the heart! and made such an impression on me that I decided then and there to stop using plastic bags. The alternative? Cloth or if the occasion warrants it, carry out the product in my bare hands!!! lol, what a concept!
Of course, my hands can only hold about 2 items at a time so cloth is much more practical.
So, I went searching on etsy for shops that create and sell cloth bags and the list is amazing. If you want practical or pretty or even the two combined then there is a bag out there that is just for you. Here are a few of the shops that I thought were really fun and totally worth the look.
This simple shabby market bag from jlquilts is really cute. It's machine washable and ready to carry all your items in style!
Here's another shop on etsy that is worth the look Mrs. Kwitty's her creations are really feminine and light and perfect for the girly girl in all of us, here's one of my favs in her shop, it's the love bird bag, soooo cute!
and if you want to make a statement then you might like these bags from byorderofthecrown, and last but not least and the bag that I think would totally update my shopping style is this gorgeous bag from Joyanna and it's called the Nichole bag! now that's shopping in style :)


So there you have it , a few links to get you started, hope they bring you inspiration and causes one less plastic bag in the landfill.
talk to you soon,
deborah

Love and hope charity event auction!

Hi all,
A few months back a bit I had posted about a charity event that would benefit NCCS, National Children's Cancer Society. And I wanted to let you know that it will be happening the week of November 15th -22nd on ebay.
Just click on this link "Little angels altered book charity" and it will give you info on how the whole idea came about and how you can bid on the auction if you would like. There's also a slide show on it so you can preview the artists pages. Of course, it is difficult to really see the beauty of the pages online but it will give you an idea of the contents.
I am so humbled to have been included in this altered book and my wish is that it's contents will bring much joy to the soon to be owner and that great things will be done with the proceeds towards finding a cure for all cancers, especially those that effect children.
Talk to you soon,
deborah

Apples and more apples

Hi all,
Just had to show you our apple harvest for the year.
We only have one apple tree but when it produces it does an amazing job! Last year, nothing! but this year a super huge crop and lo and behold the bugs pretty much left the apples alone this year too, so more apples for us!!! My hubby picked all of these yesterday and put them in this metal bin. My garden is in the background and it had just rained so the air was sooooo fresh. Can't you just smell the apples?
Now how to use them, lol. I've made apple pies (more to come) and applesauce and I've given bags full away to relatives but still there are so many left......
Any ideas? Talk to you soon, deborah

Teacup cuties

Hi all,
I just have to show off my latest creations and of course they are tea related :)
Not too long ago I brought home a bag of some vintage poker chips thinking to myself that surely I could come up with something creative to do with them and then the other day I came up with these. Teapot magnets! Don't they remind you of mini tea cakes?
I love the whole idea of recycling or repurposing items and these do just that. Hope you like them too.

Talk to you soon,
deborah

Hi all,
I'm feeling nostalgic for Paris today.
I seem to always go there in Sept. and October so here's a little peek of Paris past.

Just a few of my fav spots in the city of lights, the Louvre, Notre Dame, The Eiffel Tower, and walking along the Seine.
And there I am waiting for the flight.

Talk to you soon,
deborah

Harmony

Hi all,
I ran across a quote today while I was reading an article titled "life on my terms" in the latest issue of Body + Soul magazine and thought I'd share it with you all.

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."

I like that way of thinking, because happiness is not something that just floats through the air and once in a while lands on our shoulders, I think it really is something that we create in our lives. How we respond to others and what we choose to do with those responses, really do shape our hearts and minds. I'm not saying it's always easy, but when we do those three things together, think, say and do, in harmony, life can be a whole lot kinder.

talk to you soon,
deborah

Frog in the pond

Hi all,
I was watering my flowers around my small pond the other day and this cute little frog decided he had had enough of the rainstorm that I was imposing onto him so he jumped out onto this rock and I had to quickly get my camera and take a photo.
Isn't he cool looking? I've never really seen a white frog before and wanted to give you all a peek too.


talk to you soon, deborah

It's all about the teaparty!

Hi all, do you have a little time for tea?

Thursday I served my first "Traveling Teacups" tea party and it was sooooo much fun!

My friend Judy let me come to her amazing home and give a practice run. I set up the table outside on the deck and it all looked so wonderful.
There were four of us and we had the nicest time chatting, drinking tea and tasting all the yummy goodies.








I'm not quite ready to launch my official kick off yet, there's still a little bit of tweaking to do to get it just how I want it, but it's getting close, so stay tuned because when I do I'll also be having a blog giveaway for one of you sweet blogger friends to take home for your very own tea party.



Talk to you soon,
deborah

Living the life of the rich and famous!

Hi all,
Yes, I still blog, lol! Just alot going on in the fam right now, but I'm back and raring to go! My hubby and I are on vacation for a few days and we are having such a wonderful time. We rented a house in Placerville that has a super amazing view, swimming pool, hot tub and the house is gorgeous!! We are truly feeling like we are rich and famous :) Here are a few photos for you all to see.
That's it for now, I'll have more later.
Talk to you soon,
deborah

I'm ready to paint my wall

Hi all, okay, the project has begun. It is really just a small project but I have been meaning to do this for a couple of months now. I have one wall in my living room/dining room area that I want to repaint and redecorate. And for my birthday I picked out this gorgeous old shabby chic head board at a local shop that has been made into a blackboard, as my gift (thank you mom and dad). I'm actually staying with my signature color of Creamy Brie for the wall because I already have the opposite wall painted in a golden yellow faux finish and I don't want to compete with that so......
I should be finished with the painting in a few hours so I'll leave you all with the beginning photos here and then later I'll post the finished results. Wish me luck, lol.
talk to you soon,
deborah

Blooming flowers in my garden

Hi all,
I was just out in my front yard garden watering the plants around my little pond and lo and behold one of my late summer flowers was in full bloom. I've been keeping an eye on it for the last week because the pods are getting huge and I could tell that any day now they would open up and announce their glory and sure enough they didn't disappoint.
I don't even know the name of the plant! I planted it last year when we had just put the little pond in and it was beautiful. The tag had said it was a perennial so I hoped for the best that it would survive our winter snow and sure enough it did! Then on my birthday my sweet hubby gave me a fountain to add to the pond and it added just the right feel to the whole yard.
Also our trailing vine over our gate arch is showing its color. Last year was it's first year and it only blossomed a couple of flowers but this year it is more established and is giving us an abundance of red trumpet flowers!
I am getting such joy from our little pond. It is not very big but we added gold fish last year too, sadly not very many survived but a hardy handful but they make me smile whenever I sit at the ponds edge and watch them swimming here and there looking for their daily food. The bees also fly in and out sipping their fill of cool water. Such simplicity and calm in such a crazy mixed up world.
Hope you enjoy the garden photos.
Talk to you soon,
deborah

Back to my usual posting!!!

Hi all,

I am still trying to figure out this photo editing thing and cannot for the life of me get it right!!!
So I will leave it all behind for now and just post my regular way!

Last week I entered one of my collages into the local fair and I wanted to show you all what the collage looks like.
Lately sunflowers have been permeating my vision everywhere I go. So, I decided to create a sunflower piece and called it "ode to van gogh".
I really like how it turned out and hope that the fair goers enjoy it too.

I used a bright blue for the background because van gogh loved his blues and then added some crackle over yellow ocre to give it a peeling vintage look.
I also added tiny glass beads to the centers of the stamped sunflowers and loved how it came out! Kind of looks like real seeds.
The main sunflower is made out of vintage wallpaper pieces and a bit of corrugated paper and then I added a fringe tassel, fluffed up, for the center of the sunflower.
The stem is a piece of olive green vintage fringe.
and of course I couldn't stop myself from adding a few vintage buttons here and there!!! lol

That's my van gogh inspired collage! Hope you enjoyed the photos and maybe next post I'll get the photo issue settled, ha!
Talk to you soon,
deborah

Excuse my insanity post!

Yes, as you see there is nothing here on this post, that's because I cannot for the life of me figure out how to use picnik or picassa on my blog, soooo......
empty space is all I can figure out at the moment, lol

talk to you soon,
deborah

French dress form lovelie, my newest creation

Hi all,
Here's my latest dress form creation! It's all about the French, oooh la la.

and more to come.....
on Glitter & Grunge
deborah

My new lovelies!

Hi all,
Oh my goodness, I haven't blogged for a week! Have you noticed?
It's always a toss up of spending time on the computer or creating at my art table. I guess that means that the art table won over the computer this last week, lol.

I've recently joined up with a online selling site called "Glitter and Grunge". I met the owners when I had gone to the ZNE retreat back in March. So, I checked into their site and I love it! So now I have a shop on there called Starrydeborah the same name as my etsy shop, but I sell different items then on etsy. I started a line of dress form lovelies that will be my main focus on G & G.
Mainly french themed dress forms, but foo foo kinds too, lol. Some of the forms will be stand alone designs and some will be attached to containers.
They are one of a kind creations and take a bit of time to make them but I am loving them!
I start off with a cut out wooden shape that I order from a great shop on etsy called "popalicioustoo". And then I just start creating from there.

Hope you like seeing my little works of art.
I'll be making many more designs as time goes on and if you get a chance check out Glitter and Grunge and see all the other wonderful artists on there.
Talk to you soon,
deborah

Kayaking with my sweetie.

Hi all,
last Sunday my hubby and I took out our Kayak to the local lake and had a nice leisurely peaceful afternoon on the water. There's something so wonderful about a non engine powered boat, so calming.......
The sound of the water lapping up on the shore and the lulling of the motion of the gentle waves make you so relaxed and happy.
Of course, I was in total Queen mode because my husband did all the paddling, lol. All I had to do was sit back with my feet dangling over into the cool water and enjoy!


Here are a few photos of our day.
Ahhhhh, the dog days of summer...... hope your summer is bringing you relaxation and fun with your loved ones too.
Talk to you soon,
deborah

Enchanted Makeovers event!

Hi all,

About a month ago I blogged about an organization called Enchanted Makeovers,
a wonderful non-profit created by Terry Grahl that transforms shelters for women and children into places of peace and possibilities.
They had emailed me out of the blue asking if I would like to donate my teacup cards
for their Celebration of Cooking event that they were putting on for the girls and I just

was so honored to have them ask and I jumped at the opportunity.
Well, their event was held a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to show you a quick

video of the day.

There's even a shot of my teacup cards and it just makes me smile to know I

got to be a part of this wonderful event.

Hope you enjoy the music and the happy day :)

Enchanted Makeover video


talk to you soon,
deborah

I just love this photo! Old teacups

San Francisco bay view!

Hi all,
Last weekend I went down to the San Francisco bay area for
a family reunion/going away party for my nephew.
I caught a ride down with my son and of course we couldn't
let the opportunity pass us by to stop for a minute at Treasure
Island and take in the view of the city of San Fran.

Hope you enjoy the scenery.

Talk to you soon, deborah

Tour de France Stage 6 Preview with Lance Armstrong and Dedication | LIVESTRONG.COM

Hi all,
I just found this short little clip of Lance while on his tour de france race and I couldn't resist
posting it here for all of you to see.
talk to you soon,
deborah

Tour de France Stage 6 Preview with Lance Armstrong and Dedication | LIVESTRONG.COM

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