Today would have been Jeremy's birthday. I miss him.

Some new stuff...

I have been thinking about Mother's Day, bridal showers, weddings...well, just about every fun event with family and friends. I made these lovelies with those Spring and Summer events in mind.

The weather has been cold so to warm my soul I have been thinking of Spring and Summer fun!

These lovelies will be for sale in my Etsy shop.

Don't forget...always in my shop when you purchase 3 or more of my gift tag listings the shipping is FREE!

On one of my trips to Finland there was this couple celebrating (if that is what they call it?) their upcoming wedding. They were dress in costume and offering hot coffees or sweet pastries. Now mind you this was on a Saturday morning on a street corner. After speaking and laughing with them, we enjoyed their offerings of sweets and drinks. When I traveled in Finland if they heard us speaking in English you would all of sudden be surrounded by them wanting to practice our language. I always enjoyed my travels to Finland. A beautiful country and people!

Wishing you a wonderful day!

You're Invited

Drawing closed. Thanks!

AN UPDATE!

I have gathered some vintage finds for this give away!

You're invited to my blog give away!

I just had my 300th post so I am celebrating.

You will receive several of my handmade vintage inspired gift tags as shown in my photos and some vintage goodies. Maybe some of my new vintage finds!

To enter please leave a comment and let us know what inspires you.

If you add your self as a follower to my blog...you will get two chances to win!

Drawing will be March 1, 2010.

Winner to be announced on March 2, 2010.

Good luck!

Thank you for visiting my blog!

Sharon

Spring is near...

It has been raining here today. What makes this rain different? We have had a light show and all the thunder to go with it. So my guess is that Spring is just around the corner for us here! Spring brings horrible rain storms with threats of tornadoes. I hate these kind of Spring storms. I would much prefer the ones that are light...which allows you to walk in the rain. I love the smell of rain!

Today I worked a a special order of gift tags.

In the process I played with Photo Shop.

My gift to you this evening. Here are some PNG images for your use with your art work. Enjoy!

Vintage Trading Card

This is a back to one of the vintage children's books from my collection.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Sharon

Vintage Finds

Yesterday I was running some errands and due to some traffic problems in the local neighborhood I had to take a side street. Well, let me tell you...there was a guy putting up a sign for an estate sale. I stopped and asked when the sale was going to start...mind you I really don't do this type of thing. He offered me a presale look! Look at my goodies!

A pay dirt in vintage lace and 2 French books.

Look at this hankie lot! 30 TOTAL! My lucky day!
On one of my International trips to Finland in July was a memorable one for several occasions. One of the occasions, the group was taking a meeting break...touring their version of farmer's market. The sweet peas tasted like candy...you just popped open the kernel and ate the peas! The flowers were so vibrant! Their growing season is actually longer than ours...with 24 hours of day light. I did have a huge adjustment to the 24 hours of day light when trying to sleep.
I guess I should start keeping a journal on my blog posts of my travels and stories.

Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving such wonderful comments! Wishing you a wonderful Friday!

Sharon

A peek...

I have been thinking about my next blog give away. I wanted to make something this time as part of my give away...so here are a couple of peeks. I am gathering my goodies for the next give away. I am calling it 'a romantic give away'. Of course it will include some vintage finds. It won't be for a couple of weeks...early March until the give away.

When I traveled for work, most of my coworkers would comment "how lucky for you to travel". Well, most of the time I did not get to see much of the cities I traveled to do the amount of time spent in meetings. Some of the meetings would end at 5:00Pm only to be continued at the hotel conference room at 6:30PM for several more hours. This happened more often than not on the trips. Some trips were for logistic reviews that would last for several weeks at a time. Spending that amount of time out of suitcase was not fun...away from home and family. But I miss those days of travel for work...and the daily interface with coworkers.

Wishing you a wonderful day!
Sharon

Altered Art Gift Tags

I worked in the defense contracting business for 28 years supporting military programs.
My worked consisted of a lot of travel both US and International supporting these programs. My responsibilities included financial review and analysis of government contracts and program requirements. I really loved the challenge of reviewing existing cost data and new projected costs based on the program requirements. Did I mention that one of the programs I supported was the USN F/A-18 program?

When I was diagnosed with Lupus...my fatigue and pain was so unbearable. It took about 10 years of doctor appointments to finally get a diagnosis. So why am I telling you this story you ask? Well, going from being very busy and active with a wonderful job to doing nothing but staying home and sleeping...looking at my four walls...day time TV sucks...I needed to find an outlet for me. Something to do at home that would allow me to create and still be able to rest when needed. That is how I started with altered art. This allowed me to use the vintage finds that I had been collecting for years not knowing what the heck I was going to use this stuff for in the future. Maybe God does have a plan and works that plan on you when you aren't even aware of it. Well, needless to say I had lots of vintage lace, fabrics, and buttons.

So today I returned to my roots of altered art making some handmade gift tags. I just listed these lovelies in my Etsy shop.

Wishing you a wonderful and creative day!
Hugs, Sharon

Tired of Winter and ready for Spring!

I am so ready for Spring!

DH and I are looking to get away from the cold but where in the heck can you go for some warm weather in the country? Not Florida...so we may wait until mid to end of March for a road trip.

I add some new gift tags to my Etsy shop this morning. As always in my shop...if you purchase 3 gift tag listings your shipping if free.

There are some new Easter, romantic, and Alice in Wonderland gift tags this week. I have added on some of the listings the back images of my gift tags for your review.

Wishing you a wonderful day!

Sharon

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing you a wonderful day of love!

Vintage Valentine Party!

I am participating in the Vintage Valentine Party!

You can see all of the participants by clinking on my sidebar image.

This is an image from my digital collection.

I have been trying to make an attempt of organizing my vintage postcard and greeting card collections. But have been side tracked with other activities of late.

This is a photo image of my vintage Valentine postcards.

This is a photo image of my vintage retro Valentine greeting card collection.

Please accept my apology for the the dark photos this evening. I will scanned the following images for you early next week so you can add them to your digital collection.
Vintage Postcard

Vintage Victorian Valentine. My favorite!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Valentine Day full of love!

Sharon

I finished a special order for Easter gift tags this morning. Here is a peek at the tags.

As promised, here a vintage Valentine from my collection. I used Photo Shop to clean and brighten the colors.

Our East Coast friends and family are getting bombarded with another snow storm that will be making a winter record. Please keep warm and safe!
Sharon

Tuesday Valentine

As promised, here is a vintage Valentine I scanned from my personal collection.

Wishing you a wonderful day!

A peek at Spring!

I completed some special orders for Easter today.

Here are some peeks at my new tags for Spring. I am so ready for Spring!

I will be working on more special orders this week for Easter. I have some new designs in the works for Spring and Summer items for my Etsy shop. I know you are probably thinking I am bit too early for this stuff. I love planning all the colors and patterns of papers for new designs. It reminds of the days when I used to spend all my spare time sewing handbags and totes for the ladies at Randolph Air Force Base. I would bring my new handmade bags and totes in on Monday mornings...by noon they were all sold. Back then I enjoyed the special orders for the wonderful ladies at Randolph.

I have never spoken about how I spent 28 years working on my blog. There were many customers and friends in those 28 years...and some stories of travel, laughter, sadness, and love for my work. Maybe I will share some of those stories in the near future with my blogging friends.

Wishing you a wonderful Tuesday!

Sharon

Vintage Finds

This morning we woke up to an unexpected snow storm. It's a nice fluffy snow...so the kids will have a wonderful time making snowman. Nothing like the one the East coast suffered this weekend.

This weekend I did venture out for some errands. On my way to the grocery store I stopped at an antique mall. I did find some pretties! Look at those vintage composition books! Thinking I might altered them and sell in the my Etsy shop. I found a pretty shabby apron with a pretty little pocket on the waist. Lots of vintage jewelry! I found some handmade tatted lace. Love this stuff when I can find it!

This week I will be offering images of vintage valentines from my collections. So check back each day for your new image to use with your crafts.

Wishing you a wonderful and safe Monday!
Sharon

New Gifts Tags for my Etsy Shop

I hope everyone is having a great Friday!

Yesterday I made some gift tags for my Etsy shop.

Here are some peeks at the new goodies in my shop.

I layered each tag with new and/or vintage papers, vintage greeting card image, new ribbons and/or vintage lace, paper flowers, and rhinestones.

My Etsy shop offers free shipping if you purchase 3 0r more of my handmade gift tags!

Wishing you a wonderful and safe weekend!

Sharon

I participated in Linda's Swap for All Seasons ~ Vintage Valentine Swap.

My partner was Bev at Country Frog Creations.

My package arrived Monday. Look at the beautiful collage she made for me! And all those chocolate goodies! Thank you Bev for your generous swap!

A big shout out to Bev for her wonderful art work.

Wishing everyone a wonderful day.

I will be sharing some vintage postcards and greeting cards with you later in the week.

Cheers!

Blog Candy!

Donna at http://brynwoodneedleworks.blogspot.com/ is having a wonderful Valentine give away. So hurry there is still enough time to enter!

Reality Check!

OK I am not one of those bloggers that has a lot to say. But today all that changed for me.

New Healthcare??? Be aware!

Today I had my monthly appointment with my rheumatologist. The reality check… due to certain circumstances I am being forced to use Medicare starting in May. I was told today that the ‘new healthcare plan’ is forcing doctors to take about 21-23% cut in their current billings to Medicare. Are you aware that MANY doctors that take Medicare patients are advising them that in the next couple of months they may need to look for another specialist or doctor? Scenario #1 How does this new healthcare help? It will cause many patients that have built a trust and relationship with their doctors to look for another doctor. BUT the problem is…if your current doctor is going through this situation…aren’t there MANY more doctors refusing to see Medicare patients. What you may not know or understand…when you are ill or have a chronic illness it MAY take years to be diagnosed…and many more tests to determine which chronic illness. Scenario #2 Healthcare and hospitals…patients currently seeing a specialist or their primary care doctor are told they can no longer take Medicare patients…most likely these patients will use the emergency room beds as their “primary care visits’ meaning when they get sick or have some related flare up due to a chronic illness. What will be the ripple effect on the healthcare system if this happens?

Information for Thought ~~ The $500B in reduced Medicare funding will undoubtedly equate to reductions in either covered benefits or reductions in reimbursement rates or both. It is also very possible that providers will say "enough is enough" and opt out of Medicare. The result of which is sure to create both an access to care and out-of-pocket expense challenge for retirees and non-retirees at a time in their life when they really don't need any additional challenges.

I am overwhelmed and stressed over this reality check. What you don’t know about me…I worked for 28 years in the same industry. I worked everyday meeting deadlines that were due yesterday or 2 weeks ago. I traveled both CONUS and Internationally in support of government programs for the US Navy and Air Force. I worked closely with senior officials, management, and mid-level management on a daily basis. Now I am at home everyday…lonely…depressed …with severe pain and fatigue…this is not how I planned to work at my age (mid 50s)! I don’t blame anyone for this situation. I just didn’t plan this lifestyle for my later years of life.

A gift for you!

Here are some vintage Valentines from my personal collection. I scanned them this weekend but did not clean or enhance with PhotoShop. You may use these for your Valentine cards or art work. Enjoy!

The ice started to melt today. YEAH!!! I ventured out this morning to run some errands. It was amazing the number of tree with damage from the weight of the ice.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Sharon