Good Inspiration - Embroidery Hoop Art

I have been cross stitching for almost 30 years and have never used a hoop in my life! But when I saw the artful use of hoops I was totally spellbound!! So creative and colorful, I thought this would be a great way for me to add some color to our walls since we are renting and not able to go wild with color.  And besides, we can all use another excuse to collect things, right???      

 Three Red Apples

 Country Living

 Sunshine and Carousels

 The Purl Bee

 Trish Brink Design

Contented Sparrow

  Under the Sycamore

 
 

   

  I was lucky enough to find these two cuties just this week!! Thinking of taking the embroidery out (one has a small stain you can see) and reusing the fruit onto something else and using the hoops in some artwork!!      ~♥~ Kristal ~♥~

"If you feel inspired to do it and are afraid to do it...you must do it." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Mini Vacation at the Island

Our Summer has flown by. Hubby took one week of vacation last month and that turned out to be such a crazy week that it felt more like work than a vacation. But this past weekend, my BIL called and asked if we wanted to stay at his condo at Dauphin Island for the week. While we couldn't stay the whole week, we did take him up for the weekend. And as luck would have it, I was dealing with monthly hormones - I was not in a bathing-suit kind of mood. But I was determined  to make the best of it and brought my camera and one good book, planning on only taking photos and reading. And while I did manage at first, a severe headache managed to put me in bed most of the morning on Sunday. Good news, I got some wonderful pictures, finished a good book - Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, and went on a Geocaching adventure ( I am going to make a post all about our new fun activity, Geocaching!!)  Hope you enjoy the pictures!!    

     

 

         

     

 Golfers' Tan

    ~♥~  Kristal  ~♥~   "I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes."  ~ e.e. cummings

Weekend Wanderings

Downtown Mobile has started a new tradition of having a farmer's market on Saturdays. It's called Market on the Square and I was finally able to attend.

It's a great activity for the whole family.

 

 They are also having arts and crafts there too.

 

 Music from some locals

 

The kids got to play in the water fountains!! 

 

Didn't take any pictures of our goodies but we got a delicious homemade brownie, some oatmeal raisin cookies and I got a lovely bouquet of fresh flowers.  

Summer 2012 - New Beginnings

Wow, it has been a really l-o-n-g time since I posted on this blog. I had stopped using it because it was linked with an old email account and since I am a dummy when it comes to web stuff, I would have to log out of one account and log into another. It was a pain. But I really didn't like having to change my blog name.....so after over a year of procrastination, I am back with this blog!! One day, I would like to get a website, but until that day happens....I am here. 

So where to even begin. I think for today, I am just going to do a simple 'Hello, I'm back' post. This way, I will have lots of things to post about for future blog post ~ LOL!!

I will say that I have started painting furniture over the last year and that has pretty much been my main focus. I took a picture of my booth at a local antique store. 

Hope you are having a fabulous start to Summer 2012!! 

XoXo,

~♥~ Kristal  ~♥~

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
― Henry James

New Crafting Venture, Old Birthday

I missed posting this on the exact day, but I still want to acknowledge a birthday we had at our house. My best little friend, Belle, turned 16 years old last Wednesday. And I will admit, she was long over-due for a bath, so I gave her one, thinking I would get her looking spiffy for a few Birthday candid shots. Turned out, I only managed to make her look like a stray!!

Her hair is still wet and she is not too happy about it.

She doesn't jump on the sofa anymore, she can't hear at all nor see too well. When we have to get her attention, we wave our arms real big. Lord knows what the neighbors think of us!! But she is still a sweet gal. Hard to believe I've had her since she was 6 weeks old.


And I have finally started doing a crafting project that has been on my To Do List for a long time!! I finally picked up some beautiful colors of yarn, got my Mama's old crochet hook, and sat down for a weekend, playing.

Round and round we go

New use for an old basket

Really loving these colors together.


Have you started a new project? If not, it's Springtime, a great time to jump in!!

Milestone - 100th Sale in the Shop!!

WOW - I didn't think I would ever get to this point, but I'm so excited! I have finally made my 100th sale at Grace Goods. I know that for some people, this would have happened a l-o-n-g time ago. I mean, the shop has been opened since July 2009!! But I will be honest, I didn't really give it 100%. Being a stay-at-home-mom, everyday chores, and all the moving we have done, I was always able to find an excuse to procrastinate doing it. But this year, I realized that my life was just fly by, and I wasn't participating in it like I wanted to.

So I made a decision that this year, I would really start working towards my dream.

And slowly, I am getting there. Baby steps, I remember reading, are the secrets to achieving any goal. So my next milestone will be my 100th sale - for THIS Year!!

These are the items for the 100th sale. And I would like to give a big shout out to Gretchen of Casa Cupcake for being the lucky person. She is a repeat customer at Grace Goods and we found out that we have some really awesome things in common. Thank You Gretchen. And thanks to each of you who have supported me and offered words of encouragement.

{{ H U G S }}

Still Missing You

Grace Adell Robinson Nuckolls
November 6, 1913 - March 26, 2007

My Inspiration, My Mentor, My Grandmother

I miss you!