A New Year

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." ~ C.S. Lewis

Fire Gazing

It was so wonderful to be there, safe at home, sheltered from the winds and the cold. Laura thought this must be a little bit like Heaven, where the weary are at rest. She could not imagine that Heaven was better than being where she was, slowly growing warm and comfortable, sipping the hot, sweet, ginger tea, seeing Ma, and Grace, and Pa and Carrie, and Mary all enjoying their own cups of it and hearing the storm that could not touch them here." -Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter

Appearances Can Be Deceiving

"Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The Search

"Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store..." -How The Grinch Stole Christmas

No One Person Can Do It All

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." - Mother Teresa

Sometimes I See RED

Timely Wisdom

"If you do not sow in spring, you will not reap in autumn." -Celtic proverb

A New Season

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.-Albert Camus

The Dance

"To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love"...Jane Austen

June Birthdays

So many celebrations...so many friends having birthdays...so many opportunites to make something special...

I love taking pretty scrapbook paper and seeing how I can use it...love this Martha Stewart bird stamp...stamped and collaged this little birdie...

Add a plain white envelope...more stamping and pretty paper to decorate...and you're ready to mail a happy birthday greeting...

Memorial Day

"O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life..."
Pausing to remember and appreciate...

English Roses

Paper roses spun from pages of a discarded library book. Edges inked with the color scarlet.

Pretty enough to adorn a gift for a college graduate receiving a degree in English/Writing...Summa Cum Laude.

Busy May Days

This can be a busy time of year...graduations, mother's day, weddings...and if there are birthdays...it can be as crazy as the Christmas rush. I've been especially busy this year. I have the priviledge of knowing many special people that are graduating from school. A very special person that we know is graduating from medical school. Talk about a celebration! I just wanted to give this person a small token to say, "We're so proud."

I covered the gift in black paper and used a unique brown, cream and black sewing trim to wrap around it. A medical person reminds me of a wise old owl. Not only do you have to remember a lot of information...many times you have to have the wisdom and understanding to know just what to do with that knowledge that you have worked so hard to possess. So, I used an owl stamp, scanned and printed an image of the brain...conservative colors of brown, white, and black cardstock to make a card that would congratulate the medical school graduate.

This Sunday is Mother's Day. I searched through my stamps and decided to use this special stamp of a lady busy at a writing desk. I originally bought this stamp for my daughter to celebrate her ability to write. As I looked through my stamps I realized this stamp reminded me of my mother as well. My mother is part of the greatest generation and so she loves to do something not many do these days...write letters. My mother's favorite color is pink and she also loves roses so I used pink cardstock, punched out flower shapes, stamped the paper edges, folded, glued and added lace.

A Mother's Day card that looks just like Mom. Thank you Mom for being so special. How are you celebrating these May days?

Going to Market

What a blessing to have a farmer's market nearby...and we visit...often. Its so much fun to talk to the growers...all ages young and older...you can learn much wisdom.

Spring, summer, and fall...many shades of one color...so many choices...

We buy starter vegetable plants for our garden...multiple varieties of peppers and tomatoes...in the summer there will be fresh fruit and vegetables to purchase and eat...yum.

Vibrant African Daisies...

Colorful hanging baskets of petunias...vegetable plants and herbs...

Beautiful Dahlias...
Looking forward to the whole growing season...

may my heart always be open to little birds...

may my heart always be open to little
birds who are the secrets of living
whatever they sing is better than to know
and if men should not hear them men are old
e.e. cummings

Blue Skies

The blue of this sky
Sounds so loud that it can be heard
Only with our eyes.
-Richard Wright

Pausing To Remember

Keeping the lights on...thinking of the coal miners and their families in Raleigh County, West Virginia. May God bless you all...

The Earth is smiling...in FLOWERS.

There are blossoms everywhere...

love this time of year... beautiful color on all the trees...looks like Fairyland...
just had to "gussy up" the house with their beauty...

I cut some branches that needed a little trim...cut slits in the end of the branch...





emersed in a pretty glass container...and those lovely blossoms are smiling in every room of the house.

Pretty Easter Packaging

First, you take THESE...


so you can make THIS...


use re-purposed paper to wrap...then tag IT...


repeat...make THESE...

Remembering why this Friday is good. Blessings, Carolanne

Turn Around And Its Spring

I looked outside this morning and realized that spring was in FULL BLOOM. How did it happen? Just 2 weeks ago, we had snow and frigid temperatures. Without any kind of announcement, buds were on all the trees. Flowers were blooming...birds were singing. I smelled...green grass.

Raising your children can be like this also. Thinking back, when I was very young... I remember the song, "Turn Around" by Harry Belafonte. "Turn around and you're two...turn around and you're four...you're not a little girl anymore...you're going out the door..." The song reminisces about how time seems to pass so quickly when it comes to your children becoming adults. Once your precious little ones were wanting stories at bedtime and then, very quickly it seems, they are wanting to stay out way past bedtime. They are headed for college... or driving on their own...Where did the time go?

It seems to have passed so quickly when you think back. When they couldn't sleep through the night without crying or needed someone to cut up their food...it felt like those stages would last forever. Then suddenly, your sons and daughters are out the door...COOKING their own food. You wonder...how did the time move so quickly?

You don't just get this feeling with your own little ones but with your friends' little ones as well. A few weeks ago, we received a wedding invitation. This "lttle" girl was getting married. It seemed like I had just gone to her ballet recital. I had just played games with her while I kept the nursery at church. Now she is a registered nurse taking care of little ones...her own little patients...and getting married.

Time...seasons...life...moves on. Sometimes quickly. "I turned around and you were gone."

Spring Is Taking A Break

Just when I thought warmer weather was here...yesterday an icy foggy frost appeared. Today is warmer...but cloudy and chilly. Thank goodness I have sunny daffodils on the table. They help to brighten this gray day.

I baked oatmeal cookies with whole wheat flour and dried cherries to bring some warmth into this frigid kitchen. Yummy.

A perfect spring morning. How are you spending your morning?