The Big Reveal!

So you know how I've been hinting in this reaaaallly annoying way about my "Two Big Surprises"? Well I'm going to reveal BOTH of them today and I'm super excited! So here we go....are you ready....drumroll, please....

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SURPRISE NUMBER ONE!!!!

Amy Powers of Inspire Co., starting today, is featuring me as her newest Inspiredfriend for the next two weeks! Go HERE to check it out! She's written the SWEETEST bio about me, has her shoppe stocked with goodies I made especially for her customers and is featuring my special "freebie," which is perfect for Mother's Day. Isn't that exciting? I have been on pins and needles, waiting for today. I am so very honored to have been asked by Amy to be one of her "friends." If you've never visited Inspire Co., or even if you have, you must go see my feature, as well as Amy's really beautiful, artful "magazine" that she updates every two weeks. So many lovely projects, ideas and gorgeous inspiration! Stop by and tell Amy I sent you! She is so very sweet and one of my favorite people I've "run into" here in cyber space.

While I'm talking about my Inspire Co. feature, I want to point out that mixed in with my goodies on Inspire Co. is a few incredibly sweet "suitcases," made by one of my dearest friend, Jennfer Pafford. She and I "go way back" but she moved a couple years ago so we keep in touch by phone, email and the occasional visit. Jennifer and I also send one another gift boxes here and there and I always tell her that she needs to sell some of the lovely things she makes for me. So she is! I sent Amy Powers of Inspire Co. a few of Jennifer's suitcases which you can find here. And Jennifer has now opened an etsy shoppe where you can find more of her suitcases. Go check it out!



Are you ready for the next "reveal"?



SURPRISE NUMBER TWO!!!!!!

I'm opening an online fabric store, http://www.confectionsfabric.com/. It is still under construction but it's "so close you can taste it!" and there's the sweetest of home pages, designed by my sweet friend, Linda of Lola&Dahl. She's also designed my eBay ME page, my clothing line's hang-tags and even my etsy banner. Everything she makes is just ADORABLE. The web site is due to open July 1st and will be your one-stop-shoppe for the YUMMIEST of fabrics and sewing notions, Vintage Bakery style! I will be stocking the MOST DELICIOUS of fabrics from lots of different fabric houses, including some little-known companies and even some vintage fabric. The best part is you will enjoy FREE SHIPPING, all the time, no matter what size your order is, within the U.S. Here's just a few of the prints we'll be carrying in just a matter of weeks....

I know...you can hardly wait 'til July, can you? Well if you HAFTA HAVE some yummy fabric stop by the "etsy arm" of my fabric store HERE where I have just a teeny-tiny sampling of some "slurpity" prints and notions to whet your appetite. Today is the grand opening! Just like the web site, my etsy shoppe offers FREE SHIPPING on all fabric and notions. Skip over to Confections Fabric on etsy and get your Sugar-High!

Oh my! I'm so excited about both of these I could go run around the block! So instead I'll post this and then run around cyberspace a few times...

HUGS,

Cheryl :)

Mama

I'd like to introduce you to the sweetest little pair of vintage kitties that just landed in my etsy shoppe. It's a Mama and a sweet Baby, just in time for Mother's Day!

Here they are snuggled up in their favorite spot....a vintage butter pat plate

Mama hops down and tries to coax Baby down, as well...

But OH MY...do you HEAR the caterwauling?

Mama can't take it so she hops back up on the plate. Anything to stop the fussing!

Baby wins again. Hmmmmm....just WHO is in charge here?

Mama... didn't you know - life isn't worth living unless Baby is smack-dab next to her Mama.

Oh, well (sigh)...Baby is so sweet after all and snuggles up so happily (and quietly!) and Mama does love her so...

Monday Yummies for Mom

Hello there, Sweets! Have you come for your Monday Yummies? Oh, Good. Because I've got some delicious ones today! And in case you don't read down to the bottom of this post (I know I don't always on others' blogs), I want to invite you especially to come back on THURSDAY for the big reveal of my not one but TWO big surprises! I'll be having a giveaway, as well, which should be fun.

Back to Monday Yummies.... if you're anything like me, you've got Mom on the brain since Mother's Day is coming up and our shopping days are limited. I am still not sure if I'm going to make something for my Mama or buy something someone else made. If someone deserved an over-the-top Mother's Day gift it would be my little Mama....she had FIVE of us (all girls!) and since I've got 3 of my own children now, I can now begin to imagine what that really meant. So I've been poking around cyberspace (as if I needed an excuse!), looking for the "perfect thing." Wanna see what I've been ogling? I knew you would!
YUMMY THING ONE: Vintage-Inspired "Mother" Bracelet by Talula

So lovely and simple.

YUMMY THING TWO: Lovely Vintage China Plate from Sophie Rose Designs

This is just gorgeous. If you don't buy it, I will!

YUMMY THING THREE: Home Necklace by Beth Quinn

I love Beth's style and this necklace would be very thoughtful gift for Mom.

YUMMY THING FOUR: Hanging Flower Basket by Periwinkle Vintage

I told you about these awhile ago but need to remind you again, since they'd make the PERFECT Mother's Day gift. I got one for my own mother and she loved it and I also gave one to a swap partner and she loved hers, too!

YUMMY THING FIVE: She Sees Life through Mom-Colored Glasses by Allison Strine

Ain't it the truth??

YUMMY THING SIX: Vintage Lefton "Mom" Mug and Saucer

Look at those roses! Gorgeous!

YUMMY THING SEVEN: Bird in the Magnolia Nest by Hadley Hutton

I've admired these prints for awhile now. I love the significance of nests for us mothers. This print would be so appropriate. Anyone want to volunteer to put a bug in my hubby's ear??? :)

YUMMY THING EIGHT: Sweet Vintage Hankie

This would be precious folded sweetly and tucked into a Mother's Day card.

Well Sweets...that's all for today! The little ones will wake from nap any moment. I'll look for you here Thursday and until then I'll be hard at work getting ready for the BIG REVEAL!!!!

Hugs,

Cheryl

Speaking of Heirlooms...

I promised some peeks at some of my family heirlooms so today I took a few photos of two of my favorite pieces. I have lots more to share but while I was taking photos of part of my upcoming "secret" (which I promise to reveal later this week!) I snapped a few to show you!

The first family heirloom I want to show you is an old alarm clock that belonged to my great-grandfather. My paternal grandparents are still alive and live close by but they are not the sort that save things. So I was surprised when my grandmother gave this clock to me a few years ago since it belonged to her father and I wasn't sure that she had saved anything from the past.

And the teacup and saucer is the second family heirloom I want to show you. It's a vintage teacup and saucer that, very appropriately says "Mother" and it belonged to a dear friend's mother.

And speaking of heirlooms, I'm going to do a bit of what some of my bloggy friends call "shameless self-promotion." But besides promoting my creations I also just love to get feedback from you, my bloggy chums, as well!

So I finally finished a project I've had in the works since literally last Fall and I am just thrilled to pieces with how it turned out...and just in time for Mother's Day.

It's an "Heirloom Album" made entirely out of fabric in the "altered art" style I've come to enjoy so much. Each of the 12 pages has at least one pocket in which to tuck special notes, a child's drawings, treasured photos, precious momentos and the like. It is just loaded with vintage images of mothers and children, delicious vintage and new trims and lace, plus HOURS and hours of hand-embroidery. I can hardly bear to part with it but I've promised myself I'm going to make one similar to this but in my curtain fabric so I can leave it out on the table in the living room where the children can page through it, as well. This is the sort of album your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will enjoy poking through for many, many years....

Here's the cover...

And now for the inside pages...And now some detailed shots...

If you are interested in purchasing this book, you can go HERE. You can also see MUCH bigger photos there, too!

I'll be back tomorrow with Monday Yummies so meet me back here for those!

Love and Hugs,
Cheryl

Discovering Tea

My family heirlooms are not what you'd call "typical." At least, they don't seem typical to me. When I think about other people's heirlooms I imagine some of the pieces I've lusted over in the antique store that made me wish someone in my family had saved something like them for me. I don't have many of that sort of heirloom but what I do have is very precious to me, and I hope, will be to my children and grandchildren in the future. Today I want to tell you about one of my dearest family heirlooms and a new family tradition which are related both to one another and, in a round-about way, to TEA.

*Photo above by Whitney Ensom

Let me first explain our new tradition. It all started with Rachel's tea-party-themed birthday party last month. It was fun to plan, the event itself was a blast and it was deemed a grand success by all. My youngest sister, Laura Joy, was here to help with bathing the birthday girl, helping party guests choose what would go on their hat and then washing up the dishes while I said good-bye to each little guest. She loaded the dishwasher but there were still dishes left that wouldn't fit so she hand-washed the tea cups and saucers, turning each one upside down on a towel to dry.


I'm embarassed to say that these tea cups and saucers were STILL THERE the next afternoon, looking so pretty laid out all in a row, just as I imagine the sideboard of a Victorian lady's kitchen might look after a sweet tea party. That's when inspiration struck. I had been casting about for some time for a way to spend time with my girls in a positive way that would be conducive to conversation and that could become normal in a habitual sort of way, hopefully lasting well into the days of later girlhood when open conversation between girls and their mothers can become rather strained. The tea cups and saucers were there, and so was the inspiration...so I dove in.

"Would you girls like to have a tea party?" I asked my daughters. Their eyes lit up.

Since that day we have missed only about 4 days of our now-daily "tea party." That means we have already had a couple dozen of these informal but precious affairs and it has become, really and truly, a habit. I hesitated to tell you about it here on the blog right at first, just in case we fell off and stopped doing it. But it has continued and I don't see it stopping.


Here's what happens. Miss Emily walks in from school about 2:35. We live across the street from the school and I could very nearly throw her into the schoolyard from my own yard so it is a very nice, safe arrangement. One of us, usually Emily says, "Let's have our tea party!" (which is so much nicer to hear than her former whined, "I'm huuuuuungry....."). I ask for the t.v. to be turned off and the girls to wash their hands while I gather up the tea things. Since I got my Vintage Party Swap package from Natalea we've gotten even a little bit more fancy, but our tea parties always involve a real tea cup and saucer for each person and a plate of snacks for us to share. I didn't intend for this, but it has become a very fun, relaxed way to learn good manners! We talk about "tea party manners" and have fun reminding one another to keep our feet off our chairs, not talk with our mouths open and say "excuse me!" when burping. We all make fun of Andrew, who is 18 months, and MUST attend our tea parties but who does very "un-tea-party-ish" things like throwing food, yelling and putting his feet on the table. The girls of course think this is hysterical and enjoy telling him how "rude" he is, which he of course giggles at. We ask one another how our days have been, hear stories of Emily's school adventures and just spend time talking with one another. I had no idea how wonderful this would be and how much the girls would enjoy it...or how much I would enjoy it. "Tea" is of course just juice or water in a tea cup but one of the girls acted surprised the other day when they saw me putting water in their tea cup. "I thought it was tea!" she said, which shows just how magical this whole thing really is.
And then, just the other day, I found the card. If you were sitting here beside me while I tell you about this, you would notice me getting a little teary at this point in the story.

We are still bringing things in from our garage that we have had in storage from the move, including some boxes we had on high shelves in the old house and just pulled down, loaded up and put in the new garage without looking through them. But now we are bringing these boxes in, going through them to see if we want to save the contents, and finding new homes for things here in the house. We have found all sorts of fun "treasures," as you can imagine, but one of the more special finds was an envelope that said "To My Darling Daughter" in my handwriting.


I opened it up of course and read the card. The date on the card is 1995 and I wrote it as an almost-freshman in college while on a family vacation in Monterey. The "darling daughter" I refer to in this card was of course only in my dreams at that point. But now, in 2008, I tear up when I read it, because now I am the mother to not one but two darling girls. Here's just a snippet, which of course gave me chills when I read it. It was written by a very young 18-year-old who was no doubt idealizing motherhood, having "baby cravings" and feeling emotional about her future. But it's me.

The card makes reference to a miniature teaset I bought that day in 1995, with my then-fictitious daughter in mind. I found that teaset right before Rachel's party in February and though I couldn't remember at the time where I'd gotten it, I remembered that it was significant in some way. It turned out to be perfect for the "doll table" at Rachel's party, which you may remember from in these photos from the party.


So when I found the card, I realized how very special this little tea set is and I've displayed it on our side table in the dining room. And though it's precious to me, it's also fair game for little people to play with, since that is what it was intended for, after all! You can see from this photo, which I SWEAR I didn't stage, that even Andrew understands what a teacup is for! In the middle of playing with trucks he went and got this tea cup (and saucer!), brought it over to the coffee table and promptly began having his own tea party! Needless to say, I grabbed the camera as quickly as I could!! I promised more posts about "family heirlooms" this week and this may be the only one for this week. We've got a house full of sickies here, unfortunately, and blogging may not happen again for a few days. But I promise to get back to this subject next week, since I have lots more to show and tell!

In the meantime, grab a couple tea cups, someone you love and start a tradition...

p.s. Look at this sweet little graphic from Heather of Pretty Petals! LOVE IT!