HIATUS

Sigh . . . I am tired. I hurt my leg some how and it's a very painful injury. I decided to stop being stubborn and am seeing my doctor tomorrow. I doubt there is much they can do for me but cross your fingers!

So I am taking a mini hiatus. I will be back the week of August 10th. Please continue to sign up for the swap here and I'll send partners out after the 7th.

On a fun note, we went to my husband's cousin's engagement lunch on Sunday. After everyone had eaten they announced they had a surprise and put everyone on a bus. They took us to this cute little reception hall and had a wedding! What a surprise! The couple decided 3 days before the lunch just to get married that day since their friends and family were all going to be together. It was a lovely ceremony and reception. I can't beleive they pulled it off in such a short period of time!



Congratulations to my "cousins in law" Godfrey and Jinna!

Until August . . .

Mish Mash and a Swap!

Hello! Remember me? I haven't had much to post about lately it seems. My crafty mojo has gone missing and I've been looking EVERYWHERE for it! Finally, after many tries I did manage to start knitting a hat. Seriously, it took me FOREVER to cast on a project I actually liked! Yeesh!

And thrifting has been sad as well. I read in a magazine that second hand store sales are up 47% from last year! That must be where all my stuff is going. I did manage this fun find:



I believe these were made by Sparklettes but I'm not sure. They are both well made and are nice heavy glass. The seltzer bottle was $7 and the shaker was $3. A bargain! I love the look of them. They seem to never have been used, they are so clean! I have ordered some CO2 chargers. Wish me luck! :)

Also gathered over the last few months is this impressive stack of aprons:



I've been lucky with these for sure. I also kept three others that aren't shown here. I will be listing these in the shop soon and there are some real beauties! If I can get off my lazy butt and get it done that is.


And now for the swap - I would like to host a pink and aqua swap. If you would like to sign up please leave me a comment and make sure I have your email! You can also email me at goodnessshop@gmail.com.



Details:

I Heart Pink and Aqua Swap

Sign up by: Friday August 7th

Send out by: Friday September 11th

(I am giving a long time on this one because I will be on vacation at the beginning of September and I am sure many of you will be busy with end of summer events as well)

Please send your partner a swap themed in pink and aqua. Include at least one hand made thing, one craft supply and one thrifted item. Please spend approximately $15 on your swap not including shipping.

Anyone interested? Please spread the word!

xoxox
RR

Z is for Zoo

The Queens Zoo is a tiny wildlife preserve in Flushing Meadow Park. I love it there. It's inexpensive and is gorgeously landscaped. Plus they have a petting zoo. Hee hee. Seriously, I'm like a little kid when I visit because I just love the domestic animals. This trip we met a very curious llama:



He came over to the fence and posed for photos. If you pulled out a camera he looked right at you and then would move along to the next person that wanted to snap his photo. We also fed him and I was a bit nervouse about his big teeth but let me tell you, he was all lips!

Another favorite was this mama goat and her too cute baby. Look at his tiny horns!



I always joke that the Queens Zoo is so small that the main attraction are the turtles:



Walking along the stream we saw many turtles sun bathing. We also saw this sweet guy sleeping in his tree house:



Do you see him there? He really blends in. When Mandi clicked her camera it woke him up! But he went right back to snoozing.

Mandi helped me take some close up flower shots, too:





Not bad for a digital camera!

It was a nice day to take the zoo walk and I always enjoy it.

xoxo
R

Celebration

Our 4th of July weekend was lovely. We spent most of our time eating and enjoying friends and family.



There were, of course, delicious desserts including cupcakes made by Mandi and a lemon bundt cake made by me. (The cupcake picks were made by Jane, Mandi's partner in the red, white & blue swap!)



Made also made her famous apple pie!




My DH manned the grill and made enough hot dogs, hamburgers and brats to feed an army!



We also made a shrimp boil that was delicious!



Even the puppies got into the spirit though Mandi's dog Teach doesn't look like he's enjoying that hat too much.



Lincoln just lounged the days away.



We rounded out the weekend with a nice fire in the pit . . .



Which my dad enjoyed from the hammock swing.

A wonderful summer weekend don't you think?

I'll be back next week with some shop updates and that pink and aqua swap I've been yammering about!

hugs
Rebecca

Hats ON to the USA?

Hello! How was your holiday? I am back from my loooong weekend in Baltimore and finally have something creative to share! Yeah! Mom, Mandi and I got together on Friday and made ourselves some Yankee Doodle Dandy crowns to celebrate the 4th.



Man my glasses are tilted! I've been trying to fix that forever. :) I'm guessing one ear is lower than the other lol.



Crowns are easy to make. I just freehand a crown design on poster board and cut it out. I fold it in half to make sure it's symmetrical. Then glue paper to both sides and decorate to your hearts desire! Wrapping paper works well because you can cover the entire surface but you can always cover the seams if you want to use regular paper like I did. The you punch some holes along the ends and thread ribbon through and tie it to fit.



I started out thinking I would cut out stars and use glass glitter on them. I have a small jar of fine glass glitter just waiting to be called to duty. I tried one and it looked blech. :( So I used some sparkled paper I picked up forever ago at Joann's. It's sticky on one side and worked perfectly! I hope they still carry it because I'll be back for more.



This is my Mom's crown. She used an image we downloaded from Country Living for a more vintage look.



The sides are covered in vintage flowers that I received in the Red, White & Blue swap. We also used some sheet music and ribbons that Sarah sent as well. It worked perfect!



My sister's crown is of course unique just like she is!



I love the stars on the side! She said it made her feel like Wonder Woman LOL.

We had a great time making our crowns and wearing them on the 4th. Maybe this will become a tradition! I was very inspired by the RWB swap with Sarah to try my hand at paper crafting again. I always forget how much I enjoy it.

I have more pictures to share from the 4th that I'll save for another post. Plus I'm pushing back my shop update until next week when Mandi is here for a visit. I need her to model the aprons! I also received the most amazing package from a Queenly Friend. Thanks again!

See here for the first crown I made!

Ciao!