Giving and Receiving...

This blogging community continues to inspire me and overwhelm me with its incredible generosity.  The amount of inspiration that is shared on a daily basis is just so amazing. 
Do you love to read comments left on your blog posts?  I certianly love to read them.  I think they are the one thing that really speak to me about how I am doing as a blogger and as a crafter and as a person.
I do not always respond to every post however once in a while there are those comments that just call out to me. 

 I have said before I have not had any formal giveaways because I like to send surprises to my loyal blog commenters.  A few posts ago I showed a Wizard of Oz ATC.  One of my followers really liked the little ruby slippers and asked where I got them.  Long ago and no longer to be found and not even any manufacturers name is what I had to reply to her.  So instead I offered to send her one of mine. In return completely surprising me she made and sent this beautiful thank u card and beaded charm.  Her name is Ana of Scrappy Pink Corner .  She creates adorable mini albums and I am smitten with them. 

 Along with the beautiful card and charm she included this giant envelope chock full of the most fun elements that I can now use to create wonderful cards and albums and lots of great projects.  To say I was overwhelmed would be a gross understatement.  I gave her so little and yet she gives me so much.  Life is like that...you get what you give.  No, not literally but in the sense that if you are generous and giving then you shall also receive much good in your life and that is exactly what has happened here. 
Mr. C has always told me I am generous to a fault!  Now that I didn't understand...how could being generous with others be a fault?  He explained that I do not have money or wealth to share with others as I need what little I have to support me (this was when I was single and struggling).  I also over volunteer my time.  For me it is about the giving to others to help them or share my supplies or talents and that my friends FEEDS MY SOUL AND MAKES ME SO VERY HAPPY!  Money cannot buy that.  Having things cannot buy that. 

So THANK YOU Ana.  Your generosity is so very appreciated and this is what life is about...happiness!
Now for using these fabulous goodies you sent me and creating beautiful pieces of pleasure. 
P.S.  I always ask before I post something I have received so as not to put the giver in a possible uncomfortable position. 
Don't you agree that this blogging community is amazing and generous and kind and creative? 
Do each of you enjoy reading your comments? 
Do you check older posts to see if anyone has gone back and left a comment you may have missed? 
I do!  I really do find it to be wonderful feedback for me.
Now I am off to get crafting... 

Sunflowers Make Me Happy...

I think Sunflowers are a very happy flower and they totally make me smile. 
This little photo is actually cut off the postcard flyer sent out by our local Farmers Market.  I just couldn't resist saving this for future crafting. 
I would love to have them growing in my yard however I don't have enough sunshine for them.  All those lovely tall pine, cedar and oak trees block all sunlight that these gorgeous flowers require. 
Do you prefer the yellow versions or the orange versions or the deep red/maroon sunflowers? 
September surrenders to the coming of Autumn and the leaves are falling.  I have been picking up the very large oak leaves already.  We also have huge Crimson King Maple trees and those leaves are falling too. 
The weather is turning cooler at nights.  Thunderheads form over the mountains but we have had zero rain all summer.  I would welcome a refreshing rainstorm...hold the lightening please as it is so dangerous for creating fires and we are much to dry and wooded for any of those. 
The deer are getting bolder as they need to forage for food.  We have a mother and her twin fawns who have been coming everyday to feed and the littles actually swim in our pond.  I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.  Yesterday I had to shoo off the father and son who were dining on my poor mock oranges that they strip bare every year.  I do enjoy seeing the deer however they are so voracious and their saliva actually kills many of our plants we have worked so hard to grow.  It is a constant struggle for me...the deer were here first yet our home has been here for at least the 14 years we have lived here.  We have now had many generations of deer who just love our landscaping.  Hmmm...
Maybe I should try growing sunflowers after all and get more birds attracted than deer.  Do you think that would work? 
Happy Sunflower week to all...lots of smiles and happiness...

Butterfly Effect...

This is a new butterfly I made. Utilizing the foam center with sheet music backing and a Monet inspired fabric front. The Monet fabric was salvaged from an umbrella which I just couldn't bear to throw away. I sewed an assortment of laces to the fabric sandwich. Next I added a layer of vellum over the laces. Hearts were punched into the vellum for a sneak peak of the laces. A row of colorful buttons for the body. Ribbon antennae complete this butterfly. Now I am sending this butterfly to the Butterfly Effect hosted by Trudi Sissons of Two Dresses Studio in Canada. Then Trudi will send all the butterflies she collects on to the Holocaust Museum in Houston Texas. This is such a beautiful and heartwarming project. Teachers have incorporated making butterflies into their classroom projects and the kids have made their own versions for the remembrance of children victims of the Holocaust. This teaches us all to be kind and generous and to do for others. I know many of you have already made and contributed butterflies to this very worthwhile cause. In fact we can all make and send more. The goal is to obtain 1.5 million for the museum. Lets all donate more of our handiwork. I have loved butterflies all of my life ever since I was a little girl. My mother did a lot of traveling in her adult years and after one trip she returned with a butterfly pin attached to the top of her shoulder. I remarked on it and she promptly took it off and pinned it on me saying, "Butterflies are the bearers of 10,000 happinesses". "Now you share this with someone else." I don't know how many pins my dear mother passed along her journey of life but I do know it was her way of paying it forward. To this day I share my butterflies with others in honor of my mother. Afterall butterflies also represent beauty, charm, grace and rebirth. May you have a truly beautiful day and create what makes you happy...