Thank You Flowers

Hello.  Big warm welcomes to a new follower, Sue of Susie's Stamping Story. Thanks for peeking in to see what I do, and then becoming a follower. Love my followers and love hearing all the comments and suggestions.

We've got some really sweet neighbors - who also love to garden. They have been keeping us in the most delicious tomatoes for most of the summer. Now, you can buy tomatoes in the grocery, but there is _Nothing_ like a home grown tomato. The first variety they shared, was so fragrant, red and just yummy, you could eat one like an apple. Dunno what the official name of it was/is, but it was marvelous. The later groups we've enjoyed are also very tasty in that wonderful Southern staple, the tomato sandwich*(described below for anyone who cares). So we wanted to say a grateful thank you, as they've also gifted us with extremely flavorful cucumbers.

Here's the card:

- image by Creative Expressions, designed for Sue Wilson (a recent Crop Stop purchase) . Inked with Versamark, stamped on a white index card that happened to be handy, then heat embossed with Sparkle n Sprinkle Belgian Cream EP.

- Various shades of Distress Inks sponged around over the surface, spritzed with some gold spray fine mist, then a bit of copper. These sprays created a lovely shimmery effect that I quite liked.

- Copper colored glitter paper leaf (snippet) and turquoise glitter bow (snippet from this card).
Mounted on plain white card stock. The inside papers were stamped in similar colors as those on the front, using different small flower stamps. I used Colorbox Fluid Chalk inks, stamping off twice on scrap paper, to get a faint image. I will handwrite the appropriate message inside.

Now, I'm going to ramble on a bit, so you can hang in there, or just X away! On Wednesday I had a wonderful treat. For my birthday, I received a  gift certificate for a manicure & pedicure. I've had manicures when I worked - (not since then though!) - but never in my life had a pedicure. My neighbor goes regularly, and was aghast at my having reached the venerable age of 70 and never experienced a pedicure. Guess she had a word with the DH who then passed the word along to DD. Ergo...the gift certificate. Can I just say the pedicure was a blissful experience?! Now I'm looking at the monthly budget and wondering what I'll dispense with, so that I can go repeat this experience regularly! (maybe I'll even have to slow down on the craft binge-ing).

Next, I wanted to share a few bear pictures. Some of you know Lil Parsnip over at Pixie's Snippet Playground. Recently sweet Parsnip emailed me the cutest note, and I explained that if he would dare to visit me, I have some playmates with which he could enjoy some time. So I thought I'd share some pictures of my bears. (DH claims this is MY JUNK! - Although he gave me 2 of these)

 

This is Angel Bear. She came from my daughter 16 yrs ago when I had a serious surgerical procedure; Angel stayed with me in the hospital and has been a dear companion ever since. Angel is a Vermont Teddy Bear, which facility we visited years ago, and watched some of our other bears coming to be. Lots of fun to watch.

 



- The pink workout bear is about 5 yrs old and was a birthday gift from DH (also a Vermont Teddy). He was away from home at that time. I had just started a pulmonary rehab therapy, and was walking 3 days a week at a medical facility. Miss Pink showed up on my first appointment day, and the folks at the center got a real charge out of Pink. She would sit with the therapists & cheer me on while Mom walked the enclosed track. She has her own little bag to carry her street clothes - as you can see.

The other little bear was one that I had given my Dad, when he had to be admitted to a care facility at the age of 86. When he passed away in '96, the relatives who were there at the time clearing his personal belongings,  made sure to get this bear for me, knowing what it would mean to me.

- The center bear is also a gift from DH. This bear came from a craft show, supposedly made from a recycled fur coat. He's very flopsy and can be arranged with his arms & legs. The patchwork bear was a long-ago gift from a quilt friend. The green bear is another gift from long ago. We've donated some of our bears in the cleanup effort, but these - and several of the Vermont Teddies who live in the basement room - will stay with us.  The needlepoint & ribbon embroidered pillows have been collected on our travels, either in thrift stores or estate sales.

The quilt at the bottom of the bed has been hidden away in a closet for many years, as it is very old, and I didn't want the light to damage it. It's not what you'd call a 'pretty or well-made' quilt. When Mama's youngest sister was 6 yrs old, my Grandma started teaching her how to quilt. Many of the fabrics are from feed sacks, but the red was purchased - probably for about 5 cents a yard - according to my Mom's recollection. The pattern is called Bear's Claw. The stitches are not particularly small or even, other than in spots where it is obviously my Grandma's stitching. My aunt would be over 100, and Grandma was nearly 45 when she had this last child.  Dad coaxed my aunt into giving me this quilt one summer when I was visiting, after he assured her, I would appreciate the story behind the quilt's existence & take good care of it. It's very sweet to have a quiet morning, and walk into this bedroom, touch the quilt and remember my Grandma & my aunt. The lace cover on the bedspread is a crochet tablecloth I found at a thrift store, long years ago. I didn't want it on the table, but I thought it looked nice over top of a pretty bedspread. I like it paired with the quilt. We have several other old quilts that have a family background story, and these will go to our Daughter some day. With stern instructions to keep the dogs off them!

Thanks for listening to me rambling on this evening.  Parsnip, if you read this blog, you can see the little bears who would love to have you visit them all the way from England. What an honor that would be indeed! Here's to a Happy Sunday for all of you. Hugs.

*A Southern tomato BLT - minus the bacon. Two slices of white bread (healthy bread just doesn't taste as good! Sorry!). Duke's mayonnaise (and again, other brands just not as tasty to a Southerner). Lettuce. Thinly sliced tomatoes. A bit of salt & pepper. I spread mayo thinly on each slice, and don't normally add salt to food and very seldom add black pepper to anything. On this good ole' mater sandwich though, you just need this. It's good to cover with a paper towel so that bread doesn't dry out, but the tomato's juices sort of absorb into the bread. Heaven! Also great if you take time to cook up crisp bacon and add to the layers.  That's how DH (a damnyankee) prefers his.