{ My MiNuTia }

Bountiful and Victorious

Over the river and through the woods, and three states, to Grandmother's house we went. Hadn't been to my parent's home in 2 years so it felt great to spend a few days with them!

I took a few pix on the last day, of course, and was playing with a lens I don't use often enough. Here are are few peeks of Thanksgiving's bounty...

My Mom creates quite a festive scene in front of their home. People slow down and take notes on her outdoor scapes when they drive by. Me included! Apparently, we just missed the sweet potato vines that covered the entry way and long flowerbeds. A recent frost took them away. So they planted pansies, that will last most of the winter. Not even fair, considering we awoke to SNOW at our house this morning!

 

A few of the pumpkins in her entry. I didn't count them this year, but I'm guessing there would be around 50 or so in this area and her living room/dining room.

 

A peek in the dining room near a wine cart. Just loving the light here.

 

Close-up of a Sassy embellished crow on a pumpkin. I think they made this for a pumpkin decorating contest last year--won first prize!

My hubby helped them pick out a new laptop, then installed it for them. He was going for Peach-o-the-week. So excited they have a new computer in their office now! This means my mom can now read my blog again--waving now--"Hi Mom!"

My duty through the installation was to be "the annoying wife and daughter who was bored so she took pix of them". I do what I can to help.

 

They ignored me. See, if you would have looked at me, maybe we could have had a nice photo of you two, but noooooo....
 

 

Shhhh...be vewy vewy quiet. I'm hunting rabbits eerrrr internet files on a strange computer. Go away.

 

He saves the day!Three hours later, computer installed and running!Perhaps he has even secured the position of "the favorite son-in-law". Victory is sweet!

BTW, now that my mom is able to read this blog again, we gotta clean things up around here, peeps. Sigh...

Wait until you see the goodies I got while shopping Friday! So many pretties!!

Joy to the Girl!

The time has come!

Okay, so Joy to the World is playing in my head, and I'd love to break out into a clever rhyme to that tune, but I won't! Lucky you...you are all winners on that one! Seriously now...

So, it's clear I'm not the only one who adores the work of Mary Engelbreit -- her illustrations, inspiration, and witty quotes! A big thanks to all who entered the 2009 autographed Mary Engelbreit Calendar. My youngest son picked the lucky winner and I am happy to announce her:

Stephanie Howell

Congrats Stephanie! Please email me with your address and I'll ship this right out to you.

I am overjoyed to report that I will be doing another E-Zine just in time for the holidays! I've missed them sooo much. Truly. I've got so many projects to share, I'm about to bust at the seams!

This little pixie may suggest kitschy tone to the E-Zine, but rest assured, if you like the style of my work, The 12 Days of Comfort and Joy E-Zine will be an accurate reflection of such. A little kitschy, a lot vintage, and a few surprises along the way. That pixie is so adorable, I had to use him--couldn't help myself. The holiday season makes me so happy, and his cheery expression won me over!

On a side note, this morning I was working on the website and adding the details of this E-Zine, and people started ordering in the middle of my update. Thank you for that! I'm slow at website stuff (still) and trying to learn it all, and it takes me a while. So, if you ordered the E-Zine this morning, go back and see the details!

To get the complete scoop and to subscribe to The 12 Days of Comfort & Joy, click HERE.  I can't even wait to get started!

On another side note, Sunday was Scholarship Day at one of the Colleges my daughter is interested in attending. We are on absolute pins and needles waiting to hear the results. Don't want to get too excited, but it's hard not to. Deep breaths.

P.S. Those spiffy metal letters on my finally updated blog banner were a sweet gift from Jenni at Silver Bella. Cool, right? She's so great.

An Oh, 'fer Cute Giveaway

Remember earlier in the week I hinted at a giveaway? Well, it's time! During the Silver Bella Luncheon, I had the Queen of Cute, Mary Engelbreit, autograph two of her 2009 Calendars. One for me, and now--one for you! Her calendar has new witty phrases this year, too.

Guaranteed to make you smile.

 

Here's another peek:

 

Leave a comment to this post and you could be the lucky winner!

 

A winner will be drawn  Monday night--11/24/08. I hope it's YOU!

*P.S. Stay tuned for info on the upcoming 12 Days of Comfort & Joy E-Zine! *

Stacy is right

That sweet Stacy McGinnis revealed the perfect shade of lip gloss in my workshop last weekend. I researched, and I agree. If you know me at all, you know I love lip gloss. I currently have about 4 different brands of lip gloss in my purse. This one, oh yes, THIS one...THIS is the one. The new favorite forever:

   

The color of choice, according to Stacy, is Brown Sugar. It's not too light, not too dark, it's just right!

Brown Sugar by Stila, is a winner in my book! THANK you, Stacy! Available at Sephora and maybe Ulta, too. Do you have a swear by favorite lip gloss? What is it? If not, you better go git you some!

A few Bellas of the Ball

More photos to share! We are up to Vendor Night. I was behind my table most of the time, but thoroughly enjoyed watching the vintage prom dresses that were everywhere! It was like going back in time I tell you!

I didn't have a well stocked table, but I did what I had time to! There's always next year, right? Did have new milagros that went fast.

Check out my helpers! Drake was the ticket taker at one ballroom entry, and hubby was the other. Allie helped at my table.

Mary Smilove is happily shopping at Pam's table, which was completely overflowing with festive vintage supplies in all shapes and sizes. Literally!

And now the prom dresses, GAAAA!!!!

This wasn't all of them, but such a pretty gathering, had to share! Here's the Prom Court:

Andrea Singarella (center) was crowned the Prom Queen, Jessi Nagy (right) was Miss Congeniality and Amy Powers (left) was The Prom Sweetheart!

Fast forward now to our Bella Luncheon with Special Guest Speaker, Mary Engelbreit. She shared herself so candidly, what a joy she was to listen to! She seemed comfortable being in a huge room of fellow creatives, and the feeling was oh, so, mutual! She shared her thoughts on finding balance as an accomplished illustrator, business woman, wife and grandmother. We all relished every word. Mary had us laughing with all of her witty comments and perspectives on living creatively!

Before lunch began, my Mr. Ants in His Pants checked with Mary to be sure she had all of the pens she needed for her booksigning which followed. He thought he was something! And at that moment, he was...

"Uhhh, Mrs. Engelbreit, I'm Andrew. "Uhhhhhh, will you be needing a marker for signing stuff later? I got these if you need 'em."  No idea what the answer was, but he returned to the table, with markers. He was much too nervous to remember a word of what she said. Maybe sweet Charlotte can tell me what was said?

Okay back to work for me... there is still so much catching up to do!

Silver Bella Recap, Part 1

To try and capture the magic of Silver Bella is going to be tough. It was such a fabulous event for everyone and contains so many details. I will remain inspired by the creative feast of those 5 days for a long long time! Over the top this year. I am amazed by it all. Truly. Got a few pix to share of this and that, so I'll start at the beginning.

The night before Silver Bella, the teachers, special friends and I escaped for a fun evening of dinner followed by an amazing project for us.  Cori Jones had a reverse applique scarf for us to make! We reserved the wine cellar of the restaurant beforehand--perfect retreat for us.

We were too giddy to finish them, but it was an adorable project, and I'm looking forward to showing you my finished scarf! Cori did a top notch job and woo'd those teachers in a big way!

My sweet pals, Jill and Cari had a blast. Cori, Jill, and Cari were the best helpers the  e n t i r e  weekend. I don't know if I can ever thank them enough. Somedays I wonder how I ever got so lucky to have true and authentic pals like these.

Kelly and Pam, dear friends, who see each other once a year-always at Silver Bella. Love these gals!

Preparing for the big welcome night...

The striped bags were the goody bags and they were filled with so many treasures and supplies from the sponsors. I was so proud to present them!

These were the Silver Bella Yearbooks from Welcome Night. A new thing I did this year. They turned out better than I had hoped and I am so proud of them. Filled with tidbits about the Event, the group project instructions, and several other exciting techniques and projects I wanted to add...you know...give those Bella's something to write home about.  :)

After our dinner, we did a group project which was embroidering an ornament. Great fun! More on that later--cuz you're gonna want to see that in detail. A few hours later, the room was transformed into swap heaven. Beautiful swaps (maybe 20 different ones?) began appearing all about the ballroom. I'm talking  b e a u t i f u l, well thought out and executed by every participant. It looked like Christmas morning...

I snapped a photo of the first one I saw, and didn't get any of the others. Trust me...all were outstanding!

My workshop was The Christmas Pageant, a Victorian shadow box inside a book. So many variations came to life in the workshop. I didn't get enough photos of them, but here are a few:

Okay, so I've taken up enough of your precious time! I have more to post more soon. Off to unpack all the goodies from so many generous bellas! ACK!! Can't stand the wait any longer. I'll take pix b/c you are gonna want to see them! Stay tuned for an exciting giveaway,too!

Coming Soon

Silver Bella photos and recap comin' atcha very soon! I've just gotta huge Mother Goose type of thing going on. Cleaning, cooking, touching base with the fam, you know how it is. Typical me after being away from the homefront for so long!

(vintage clock was a super find at the Curious Sofa booth vendor night. Loving it.)

How cute is this?

Silver Bella starts now for me! Ack!! I haven't slept a wink...and how could I? So excited I can hardly stand it!

I did want to leave you with this adorable Advent Calendar to enjoy. You can see mine referenced on the left sidebar. I've made them for years and I truly love it when others share their calendars with me! This one is by Melinda Welch.

Precious! It's fit for a princess! Thanks for sharing that with me Melinda!

Shabby Chic Sacred Hearts & Last Minute Tickets

So, I have a few more milagros to share. When I have time to create for myself or for our house, I am really drawn to the French and faded this year. So that's the direction I took for these.

They are really sparkling with all of that vintage glass glitter.Most of the sentiments on them are hand stitched--that's my other obsession of late.

Wanted to take pix of more, but I was losing the sunlight, so I stopped here.

I think I've made enough to feature at my space at Silver Bella. I can't even believe it's right around the corner! Everyone is so excited! Several vendors have been showing me what they are bringing for The Bella Vendor Faire, and all I can say is WOW! This ain't no Grammy's craft fair, baby! So many gals coming from all over the country, even Canada! So grateful and honored to be working with each one of them.  If you haven't seen the listing of vendors, it's on the  Silver Bella Blog (click here).

WELCOME Omaha World Herald readers! If you are interested in attending Silver Bella, you can get the details and registering information on the Paper Bella Studio website: click here! Then click on the Silver Bella link. Registration has been extended and there are some great workshops available.

If you are interested in purchasing tickets to the Silver Bella Vendor Faire at The Embassy Suites Downtown, they are $30 each and include admittance to the Faire, as well as light appetizers and dessert bar. Open admission begins at 7:00 pm.

Prepurchase your ticket by sending $30 via PayPal  to: tmcfayden@cox.net. Email tmcfayden@cox.net if you have questions. Thanks for your interest in Silver Bella!
 

Ladies Who Lead the Way

A couple of nights ago was our daughter's Cross Country Banquet.  It was so nice to have an evening devoted to the boys and girls who worked so hard all season. 

This is a blurry photo--she was playing around with some of the photos...oh well. These two team captains were honored by their coach. They received leadership awards!! Their coach said in his 32 years of coaching, he's only given leadership awards to his captains 3 times. This night was one of them.

Insert applause here. Then insert lumps in our throats here.

I know she feared this man the first year she ran...so to get an award from him at the end of her senior year with him, was quite a moment for her.

Both girls gave speeches to their team, coaches and parents. Insert another lump in the throat here. The seniors give out fun superlative awards, and Allie did her own powerpoint presentation to go with it. It was great. Her team gave her the "Most Nike shorts" Superlative award, and the "Daddy Mommy Long Legs" award. Cute.  It was the best evening we've had in years. Seriously! Couldn't be more proud....just gotta tell ya.

I was on the planning committee, because I really needed ONE more thing to fill up this month's schedule, right? Here's my table centerpieces...

Thank you Laurel, for all those yellow running shoes! They were put on sticks and inserted into the bags, then the bags stuffed with colored cellophane. So boring, right? Well, when you have no budget....jeesh. I did add lots of glow sticks to each of the bags/centerpieces.

Of course, they looked better when they were actually glowing in the darkened room, but you get the idea. It was just the bestest night to watch and we are all still glowing around here!We had a fantastic 12 minute photo CD, too. You should come over and watch it. It'll give you the shivers!!