Oh, Fer Cute!

Saw a tutorial on doll bedding yesterday and HAD.TO.MAKE.THESE.FOR.SIRRYHA! Lisey--recognize the fabrics? How perfect are these PILLOWS? weee! I have been wanting to get a proper doll bed for Sirryha .... but she hasn't really shown much interest in her baby dolls (would rather tend to her doggies.) : ) Lately, though, she is all about "naptime" so these are just right.

(and who says doggies can't sleep in a bed with pillows and a cover?)

Now off to bed for me....Monday morning will be arriving all too soon...

Easing back...

...into some comforting routines after these sad weeks and days following my sister's unexpected hospitalization and funeral.

Thanks to you all, my Art Tribe Peeps, for holding me in your caring hands and hearts; your support and words and kindnesses have meant more than I can express.

Last night, my sister Jackie and I returned home to Philly (from the Burgh) after 10pm sometime...and since I FORGOT TO ORDER DECAF at our 7pm-ish pittstop at Starbucks, I was still WIRED and unable to go right to sleep (even tho' I was sure that was what would happen the minute I hit the door!)

And so, as always when I cannot sleep, I turned to my ART TRIBE and my favorite bloggists (not a word, is it? don't care...I like it better than BLOGGER) for some soothing distraction....and the first click brought me to Rebecca Sowers' latest entry (could a softing landing exist? I want to be her when I grow up.) How perfect is this idea? (and oh yes, Cynthia, it was not lost on me that there are two sets of FIVES in her piece!)

And so, I scribbled down a copy of the idea, headed to my sewing machine, pulled out some pre-cut canvas, threaded the machine with some brown cotton, and just WENT FOR IT. I got as far as the above photo shows by 2:30 am before I was ready to call it a night...and this morning when I asked Rob "what does this look like?" he said "um.....a flower?"

I can see the bird, can't you?

Lavendar is healing, right?

Our lavendar plants have reflowered in the front yard (smell is heavenly) and Sirryha and I picked a lovely handful to take to Aunt Lyndee yesterday when we arrived for Rosh Hashanah dinner. (Best brisket evah!) Still using my cell phone for photos....oh I need to get better with that Kodak Zi6 video camera 'cause nothing is better than hearing Sirryha's giggles and little voice!

Happy Sunday, peeps....sending out prayers for healing for my sisters and our families.

Busted camera means lame posts...

...'cause you know I need a photo for every post! Our poor little Canon PowerShot SD45C just stopped working properly on the fourth of July (LCD screen is GONE). So I can't use the menu and that means no flash or macro controls....(the only two settings I really used!)

Sigh.

But that means Sirryha can play with it to her heart's content. Interesting to see things from the perspective of 2 1/2 feet from the floor, eh?

(kitchen plants - and my precious Moravian pottery pieces - the first thing I hung when we moved in 8 years ago! And the LAST time I MEASURED before pounding nails--shhh...don't tell ROB!)

Happy Saturday, peeps!

And Happy Happy Birthday, Niki LALA! Wish I was there to celebrate with you! xoxo

Happy Father's Day

My dear friend Cynthia posted a photo of her and her dad on her blog the other day...and it immediately reminded me of the photo above. (Note the same paneling and same harvest gold "dad chair" recliner.) I love Cynthia's style and her ability to work her most nostalgic memories and treasured photos into her writing, journaling, scrapbooking and memory keeping...and have it feel so fresh and new and interesting. And yes, Miss Cynthia, I am long overdue for some SCRAPPIES and you so inspired me to get crackin' on some layouts!

But first - the photo above (haven't done this scrapbook page yet....but the ideas are perking!) The photo is from the 70's, of course. It is my dad (the day he came home from the hospital, hence the heavy beard and moustache - he was usually clean shaven.) Perched on his knee is my baby sister, Niki. I took this photo as part of the one roll of film I shot to earn my photography badge in Girl Scouts. It is the only photo I ever took of my dad (he died in April of 1975 - not long after this photo was taken.) The only other photos I have from that roll are of our cherry tree in the front yard. I have no memory of the other photos....sisters...any ideas? Wonder what became of them....(see how important memory keeping is!)

The things that I see in this photo:

• Our dad always had a pen in his pocket (appears his glasses are in there too!)...he always wore a watch and his wedding band...and Niki was his favorite! (hee)


• That yellow and red book in the magazine rack on the right is from the circus...not sure what year was the last time our dad took us, but I remember looking at that book over and over again. My dad loved the circus.


• The flowers in the bottles on the divider wall were my creations...I used empty vanilla extract bottles and any other little glass vessel I could salvage (upcycle!) to hold these flowers. It was a craft kit I got for Christmas - I think they were called "Dip It" --you formed a wire petal or leaf and dipped it into the goo...it then hardened into a transparent film. {This site is the closest thing I could find for it. Mine looked NOTHING like those! I only had red and green "goo" - but my kit came with red-tipped yellow stamens and green floral tape, too! I remember it was VERY smelly. Probably toxic! eek!}


• I had forgotten the kitchen wallpaper design (harvest gold and orange and avocado green--oh yeah.) I still love cafe curtains (tho' I don't have them in my house).

And so...inspired to keep jotting down my memories and cobbling together minutes (hours!) to create scrapbook and journal pages. Cynthia and Sandy, I promise to upload my pages to SISTV!

In the meantime, here is one I just did early, early this morning....Little Miss's hands at play. Love that she is a LEFTIE! xo (sorry the scan is so crappy)

For my sister*....

...because she loves SPRING and her garden and digging in the dirt and being outside in the sun.

Come on SPRING...GET HERE ALREADY! (It was 40 degrees this morning. Wha? We have the FIREPLACE GOING TONIGHT. Seriously.)

This was inspired by the oh-so-inspiring Donna Downey, she herself. I want to make one in every color.

(*Shhhhh! Don't tell! I don't think she reads my blog daily and this isn't in the mail to her yet!)