megan...

My cousin Lori sent me this message in an email and just thought I'd share with you how cute her daughter is! Its hard to remember when mine were this little, enjoy those little moments while you can!

"Megan lost her first tooth last night! She was sooo excited, she actually almost pulled it out herself."

sweet sixteen...

I can't believe it -- KRISTIN is 16!!!

I don't know where the time goes, she is going to be a junior this year and the next thing you know she'll be headed off to college -- I'm so not ready for that. Well, this year I decided to give Kristin a big surprise and in my usual fashion started planning this whole thing days before (I've decided I work well this way, guess I just love stress -- or there is something really wrong with me!).

Anywho, I decided to rent a limo -- to do what I wasn't sure -- then it all started coming together. A treasure hunt! With clues provided by me in 16 envelopes (and if you know me, then you know they couldn't just be plain white envelopes -- as if the stress of all this planning wasn't enough!). On the morning of the big day I ended up taking her to the doctor and to get xrays (sprained her ankle at soccer the night before -- geez this really wasn't in my plans for the day!! I still had much work to do). So here goes, I told Kristin that her "Pa" wanted to take her to dinner for her birthday and would be here at 5 o'clock and when she went outside there it was a white stretch limo.

I got inside to ride with her to the first destination, with the first clue: Some girls have all the _____? If If you find this location you might just find "some girlfriends!" So we arrive at the outlet mall, find the Juicy store, find 3 of her 4 friends (other one met us later) and her new Juicy purse containing the rest of the clues! At this point, my cousin Christy met me there and we headed off to the next destination to drop off more goodies.

Each envelope contained a clue -- some with gift cards (so her girlfriends could get coffee while she was getting a makeover), some with money so they could ride the "Island Carousal" Towards the end of their shopping spree I had her go to Ritz camera and pick up an envelope (which contained a picture of her boyfriend) and directed her to where he would be waiting -- he even had 16 roses (how sweet!).

This is the picture I had waiting.

Then they picked up something to eat on the way to their final destination -- home. To eat, watch movies and have cake. WOW -- glad that day is over.

I think they all had fun, even Kyle -- when the limo dropped them off I had him take Kyle and I for ride around the neighborhood, he really liked it.

And here is my mess -- I was still decorating these envelopes like 30 minutes before the limo got here!!

special delivery...

I was contacted regarding a "special order" for Maria, who loved my "birds of a feather..." journal. She asked if I could make some for her girlfriends in the wedding party so I quickly got to work on my first custom order.

All of my journals are one-of-a-kind, handmade and most of the time using vintage images or items, so I found this to be quite challenging. I thought they turned out pretty good -- I even added a small glassine envelope (I just love these!) to the back of each one with a little note tucked inside saying "love, Maria"

Here are some pics.

Here is the envelope included with the order: glassine envelope contains a business card and a copy of the "november's breeze" poem, tied with vintage ribbon and my signature "november's breeze leaf"

Here is the package "ready to go!" Special Delivery!

Congratulations Maria!

the score at the shore...

Here is Kristin with the ball (number 22).

The following weekend after vacation my daughter, Kristin, was invited to guest play in a college showcase soccer tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina ("The Score at the Shore" was the name of it). So Kristin and I decided to head off to North Carolina for some soccer and a "girls weekend." It was quite fun -- of course I wasn't running around in 100 degree weather either! I don't know how those girls do it.

The weather was great and the fields were just beautiful, it was a good experience. Below is a picture of a couple of the fields (I think there were about 16 all together).

lazy days of summer...

I'd like to think that the lazy days of summer have prevented me from posting...but I have actually been quite busy! I haven't posted anything since returning from vacation!! Looks like I have lots to catch up on and I'll get started by posting some vacation pictures.

Here is my "little model" Abby (my niece Abigail didn't mind posing for me, isn't she too cute!).