Shabby Lane Shops

First, I'd like to thank everyone who left sweet comments for my mom!  I'll help her reply to your messages during the week.  I'm just thrilled that you've all taken to my mom so much.  I know that the kindness you've shown her has helped her to cope with her BiPolar and her Depression.

I'd also like to say a special thank you to my sweet friend Lynn Stevens for taking the time to be my Guest Blogger earlier this week.  Lynn has been under the weather but despite her discomfort, she put together a wonderful blog post for me on her Steampunk Art Work and How To Submit Work To Magazines.  Thank you so much Lynn!

I recently decided to join the wonderful online shopping mall called, "Shabby Lane Shops".  If you have a love for handmade, if you love shabby chic, cottage style, country, victorian, romantic and beautiful seasonal items, you will love visiting this site.

 There is so much to see and so much to do and the community is wonderful!  This is a group of very gifted shop owners, many I've already met through blog land and all are just sweet and helpful as can be!

There are free ECards to send:

 Free Postcards to download:

 And recipes:

  
Here's my little corner of Shabby Lane Shops:

Many shop owners, including myself offer coupons through SLS.  You can find the coupon codes here.
I've also added the link to the coupon code page to my sidebar.

If you're a magazine junkie like me, you may have already seen the ads for SLS:

Really, there are so many fun things to do here, grab a cup of tea and please hop over to take a look-see!  If you're a shop owner, you may want to consider joining to help promote your shop. 

I'll leave you today with my latest creations.  I've been making felted art brooches:

 All are available in my Etsy shop.  And don't forget to grab my coupon code from Shabby Lane Shops.

Angel Brooches

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels, unawares."  Anonymous

I've always loved that quote!  It reminds me that there are angels everywhere!

I finished up on my little angel brooches:

 

The background is velveteen & antique lace.  I did SRE around the angels (which I hand-painted and glittered) and the tatting around the edges is vintage tatting.  I can do tatting, but I really prefer to use vintage whenever I can.  I just love these!

I also finished up the stitching my Cherub CQ Trinket Box:

I hope to have the time tomorrow to put it together.  I've already painted the box and I think this will be so pretty when I get it all put together.

Before I head out for today, I received another package in the mail from Gina in Australia:

 

I have the sweetest blog friends!  Thank you so much Gina!

Well, I'm off to put an order together and then I'm done for the day.

Brooches, Strawberry Cupcakes and More!

I have loads to things to share with you today.  Well, maybe not loads but some eye candy and some news.

First, I promised you brooches:

 

I took some small lace appliques, hand-dyed them, tacked them onto some heavy weight interfacing and then embellished with silk ribbon embroidery, beads & sequins. When they were done, I glued a piece of card stock to the back and then some flannel (couldn't find my felt) and added a pin back.  They're very sparkly and available in my Etsy shop.

Next, I'm sure you're all wondering what the plan was for the strawberries.  Well, here they are:

 

They look good enough to eat, don't they?  But they're not edible.  They're pincushions!  Oh, what a fun project this was!  It's really incredible to get an idea and bring it to life.  Not that cupcake pincushions haven't been made before, but I wanted to put strawberries on mine!  The cups are vintage tins.  I'd like to say that I sprayed them pink but I can't.  My father did it for me.  I'm spray paint challenged!  Ha, ha, ha!  Anyway, they're available in my Etsy shop as well.

I spent the day over at mom's and completed several more projects that I had started.  I had to let them sit overnight so the glue could dry.  I'll share those projects next week.

In the meantime, I wanted to share photos of some lovely gifts that I received this week.  First are these beautiful hankies from Judy:

 

Aren't they beautiful?  I just love vintage hankies!  Judy also sent me a copy of her choir's CD.  Oh, I just love choir music!  And she sent me an issue of Sew Beautiful.  Oh, I love that magazine.  Thank you, Judy for all the lovely gifts you sent to me!

I received another wonderful package this week as well:

 

These pretties were a gift from Mary Ann.  Beautiful hankies, crocheted pieces, appliques, lace and sequins.  And check out the gorgeous smocked piece!  I don't have anything like that in my stash.  I will be using that on something special.  Perhaps a new purse once my Crazy Garden Quilt is done!  Thank you so much MA.  It was a lovely surprise!

Finally for today, I have an announcement to make.  Due to the lack of interest in my Biscornu of the Month designs, I have decided to drop the project.  I apologize if this disappoints anyone.  I just feel that without the interest in the series, I could better spend my time creating other things. 

Well, that's my post for today.  I'm quite tired now so I think I'll go fill my tub with bubbles and relax.