As the Holiday Season is upon us,

I find myself reflecting on the past year

and those who have helped to shape my desire

to create loving handmades. 

I truly value my relationship with you

and look forward to an exciting 2013,

full of hope and prosperity and peace.

Cookie (Karen)

Curds-and-Whey

This Christmas...

Are you willing to believe

that love is the strongest thing in the world -

stronger than hate, stronger than evil,

stronger than death?

And that the blessed life

which began in Bethlehem
nineteen hundred years ago
is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love?

Then you can keep Christmas.

- Henry Van Dyke

Merry Christmas, dear friends!

Quite a dapper fella

My newest creation is completed just in time for the TDIPT Mercantile upload.

 

Meet Dan, the suave and dapper man :)

 

While I'm at it, I wanted to share my adorable new Christmas decoration, made from vintage baby shoes and red jingle bells!  I thought this was the most adorable piece and wanted to recreate it for the TDIPT Mercantile offerings.

Be sure to come over to the TDIPT Mercantile tonight to see all of the amazing creations being offered!

Every year, a custom carries on that was started by my dear Mother-in-Law years ago: we wake on Thanksgiving morning and flip on CBS to watch the Macy's Day parade
as we busy ourselves in the kitchen, preparing a family feast.

Several years ago, I was half watching The Morning Show with Harry Smith,
who narrated a segment with Anne Graham.

Anne read a prayer from her father, the Reverend Billy Graham.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing on television...
it moved me to the very core of everything I believe,
and I wanted to share it here with you again this year.

Each year, I come back to this post and each year,
it's as poignant and real for me as ever it was....  it goes like this:

“Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.

We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good,’ but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.

We have abused power and called it politics.

We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography

and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers

and called it enlightenment.
 

Search us, oh God, and know our hearts today;

cleanse us from every sin and set us free.



Amen.”

As families gather for the holiday,

please remember there is no reason to have a holiday called Thanksgiving

unless there is Someone to thank.

Thanks be to God and Jesus Christ His Son for all the blessings on our fair land.

Remi and Rudy

Remi is my newest creation ... a sweet little Snowgirl.

She's a bit shy, so she brought 

her favorite ragtag baby, Rudy. 

 

 

Remi even has a removeable backpack with drieds

 

  

 

and wait...

who is that stowaway hitching a ride??

 

From the tip of her head right down to her clay shoes,
there is much attention to detail on this little girl.
She is lightly glittered with mystical snow and
her pinafore has been hand embroidered in great detail
and her arms are wired for posing.

Remi is ready for her premiere
on the TDIPT Mercantile this Wednesday night. 

She's a keeper, for sure!

The time has come....

We knew it would come to this eventually ...

even with time to prepare our goodbyes, it doesn't make it any easier.

 

 

You see,  Fall is our favorite time of year here at my home - and Rex is hesitant to give up his space on my workbench!

 

I must say, Rex may be my last punkinhead for the season - but I won't forget him anytime soon!

 

From his wool felt top hat right down to his boots with little socks sticking out, I have

so enjoyed creating this boy.

He whispered to me very late in the evening

how much he loves bats - so I thought it was

the least I could do to make his last wish come true.

Love you, Rex!

 



 

For the record, Rex has a job on his hands...

keeping timely company with this sweet dew-drop

as they make their way

to their new home. 

 

 

As Rex puts it: 

"it's a dirty job... but someone's got to do it"  :)

A few things for the Mercantile

I've been fortunate enough to have some 

"dungeon time" in the last few weeks.

 

That usually happens when riding season starts

to slow down  and I'm really glad to be back in it.

 

I love creating and have a few items loading up

on the TDIPT Mercantile for October.

 

I do hope you will stop by and check out these

and all the other amazing offerings from

the TDIPT Artists!

 

Little Punkinhead has totally captured my heart!

 

And of course, what is the Thanksgiving season

without a moment to "Give Thanks"?

Slow Down... Look Around

Lisa Beamer was on Good Morning America some time ago. She is the wife of Todd Beamer who said "Lets Roll" and helped take down the plane over Pennsylvania that was heading for Washington DC on 9/11/11.

She said it's the little things that she misses most about Todd, such as hearing the garage door open as he came home, and her children running to meet him.

 
Lisa recalled this story: 

I had a very special teacher in high school many years ago whose husband died suddenly of a heart attack. About a week after his death, she shared some of her insight with a classroom of students.

As the late afternoon sunlight came streaming in through the classroom windows and the class was nearly over, she moved a few things aside on the edge of her desk and sat down there. 
With a gentle look of reflection on her face, she paused and said, 'Class is over. I would like to share with all of  you, a thought that is unrelated to class, but which I feel is very important.
Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate and give of ourselves. None of us knows when this fantastic experience will end.
It can be taken away at any moment.
Perhaps this is heaven's way of telling us that we should make the most out of every single day.
Her eyes, beginning to water, she went on, 'So I would like you all to make me a promise. From now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful to notice.
It doesn't have to be something you see, it could be a scent, perhaps of freshly baked bread wafting out of someone's house, or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees, or the way the morning light catches one autumn leaf  as it falls gently to the ground. Please look for these things, and cherish them.
For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the "stuff" of life - The little things we are put here on earth to enjoy... The things we often take for granted. 
The class was completely quiet. We all picked up our books and filed out of the room silently. That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home from school than I had that whole semester.
Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and remember what an impression she made on all of us, and I try to appreciate all of those things that sometimes we all overlook. 
Take notice of something special you see on your lunch hour today. Go barefoot. Or walk on the beach at sunset. Stop off on the way home tonight to get a double dip ice cream cone. For as we get older, it is not the things we did that we often regret, but the things we didn't do.

Scratchy, Itchy, Icky even....

I've been wearing suspenders since the day of my birth,
only now they're much bigger, because of my girth.

I wear burlap pants as I haven't much money,
so it's not a fun time when the day's hot and sunny.

I shopped for a belt once, and my size they had not,
so I tied two belts together and became overwrought.

So it's back to suspenders with my hot, burlap pants,
they're unpleasantly scratchy, and I've noticed a rash.

(author unknown)

To Dogs, you're family.... To Cats, you're staff

I love making Pin-Keeps and have something

 a little different to share this month on the TDIPT Mercantile.

I  have the sweetest dog mounted on a bone pinkeep and

a finicky little feline mounted on her fish pinkeep
(of course, the mouse refused to stay behind!).

Both stand approximately 9" tall and
both will be featured on the TDIPT Mercantile,

 which will be available Monday evening, April 30th.

thank you, Lana!

A few weeks back, Lana Manis of Honeysuckle Lane was having a contest to post a cute caption with a picture of her precious pups that had recently adopted her and the Manis family. 

Lana got so many great responses that she couldn't decide and resorted to using an automatic picker to decide the winner.

Lucky me... as it turned out, my name was drawn!  My package arrived over the weekend - and I just cannot tell you how beautiful this work is. I have purchased many sets of notecards over the years from Lana and was always impressed with the quality but along with the notecards, I received one of her beautiful felted flowers and I must say, the workmanship is impeccable and her packaging is so professional!

Thank you Lana, from the bottom of my heart.  I love it all!

Oh ... Nip and Tuck also wanted me to thank you ... they love their new mouser toys too!

x0

A birthday never to be forgotten

As I contemplate turning another year older, I got to thinking about some of the past birthday celebrations.  Some were downright wild and crazy ... others were mellow and mild.  But the one that stands out most is my 30th birthday...

We were living in the foothills west of Castle Rock, Colorado and decided to drive back to Kansas City to spend it with my dad and family. Each time we made the trip back home, we would take Highway 86 out from Castle Rock to Limon. Generally, it was a well maintained 2 lane blacktop that cut at least an hour off our journey. 

Well, it just so happened that a spring storm hit hard but my hubs (being a typical “my 4wd can get through anything” guy) decided to forge ahead even though it was getting wicked bad with drifting snow reaching well up to our thighs in places.

As we headed out, we made it through Parker and Elizabeth – and by the time we hit Kiowa, and started the trek out on the open plains to Limon, we weren’t able to see where the highway was except for an occassional mile marker that showed us were were still on the blacktop. 

The storm got worse and worse - and we got high centered in a terrible drift.  I got out of the truck to see what was up ahead and hadn't ventured much further than 15 or 20 feet in front of the truck when my hubs started blowing the horn.  I turned around to see what was wrong and realized that although I could see the truck fine, Darrell had lost me in the white out.  Trying to get out of the jam we were in, we decided to rock our way off the mound that was holding us captive. What happened felt literally like God picked up our truck and set up down on a clear place. 

As we headed back for the safety of Kiowa, Colorado - the last town we had driven through, we saw another car with a family of 4 had gone off the road. We were able to find a spot that was safe to stop and we picked them up and prayed for a place that was open in this little town. 

I'm not sure how it has grown since those days, but back then Kiowa was a "blink and you miss it" kind of town. Although it was the county seat, it consisted basically of a gas station, very small convenience store and the Courthouse where a jail was housed in the lower level.  As it turned out, the county jail was the only building that showed signs of life and as the 6 of us entered the jail, we saw many others who were seeking shelter from the storm.  We ended up being snowbound for 3 days in that jail!  We played cards with the inmates and lived on tv dinners that the sheriff had stockpiled. 

After the 3rd day, we got word that the highway department finally got a path cut from Colorado Springs out to Limon via 24 hwy and the sheriff's department started taking single line caravans of cars out to Limon.  We drove down to the Springs, rented a hotel room to enjoy a hot shower before making the trek on to Missouri because we weren't letting this storm deter our plans to see my dad!

I must say, driving down the one lane path in the pitch black night, the lane was cut through the drifts of snow with walls on both sides at least 20 ft high. It was one of the most eerie feelings I've ever experienced, watching the caravan of headlights bouncing off those icy walls.  It created a very claustrophobic feeling!

I did not take pictures of the trail cut through  Highway 24, but I found a photo online that might come close to the feeling we experienced.  Just imagine this going on for miles and miles in the pitch black of the Colorado plains. 

As long as I live, I don’t think I will ever forget that birthday!

38 years ago...

It was 38 years ago that I met the man I would eventually marry. 

At the time, I was 3 years older than him ...

he was 17 at the time and thought he needed to fib

about his true age to get my interest. 

Little did he know, I was already smitten

with this young GI stationed at Ft. Riley, KS.

Within a year, we were living together

 and then in 1980 while we were living in Colorado,

we got married in the front room of our mountain home. 

It's been a lifetime of experiences ...

some sad, some bittersweet, but for the most part

wonderful memories that we went through together

and survived to grow even closer together.

So today, we are celebrating his 55th birthday

and I just want to say I love you more than ever. 

You are my knight in (mostly) shining armor. 

You are my protector and my confidant.

I trust you implicitly and look to you so often

for wisdom, direction and assurance.

Happy Birthday Darrell! 

I love you, babe ♥

Someone special just turned 2!

Time passes so quickly ... I remember when our little Sully was born two years ago, what an exciting time it was for everyone!

There were some complications when he was born that caused him to spend a number of hours in the ICU. As hard as this transition was for him,

I do believe it was even harder on all of us!   

But we made it through, Sully made it through just fine -

and grew and thrived into a little chunky monkey,

so full of love and the sweetest temperament.

And now, we find ourselves celebrating birthday number two

with this special little guy.

He has managed to capture the hearts of everyone

that has ever met him... or even seen pictures of him

 growing up and I'll share a few pictures

of his birthday celebration over the weekend. 

He was excited to show off all the cool stuff in his bedroom...

 But then, it was time to eat ...

SKETTY!!

  And Sully says it's good, too  :)

Sully had so much fun with all of his friends and family

and loved all of the balloons that everyone brought to celebrate the day. 

His little hands could only hold so many ...

 

Unlike last year when he was covered in cake,

this year it was a cupcake, eaten very carefully!

Mommy and Anna made his cupcakes and they were sure good!

Sully can't remember.... is this 2??  

Anyway, after lunch and birthday cuppies, it was time for a little cruise! 

He got a car and a new trike and a sandbox and lots of great toys!

when his friend Taylor tried to take a little spin,

Sully wanted to ride with her but they figured out pretty quickly

 that it worked better when Taylor pushed and Sully steered!

We had alot of fun on Saturday and

Sully hated to see all of his friend leave  :(

The morning after revealed an aftermath of deflated balloons

 and scattered toys ... not to mention one tired little boy  :)

But we're all looking forward to a fun year ...

Sully will start talking soon and boy o boy... I cannot wait for that!

Happy Birthday Sweet Sully... I love you very much ♥