con-tain-it

Two Little Love Birds Sittin' in a Tree...K I S S I N G...

 First comes love...Then comes marriage...

Found these cute little red ceramic birds at Michael's on sale today and just had to have them for my patio.  Especially since DH and I put together our patio cover/gazebo this weekend and we are still talking to each other {let alone kissing ;}

Sure do have a bone to pick with the lady at Lowe's who said that we'd have "no trouble putting this baby together"...yeah right!  She failed to mention that we would need a ladder of some sort.  Here at the Love Shack all's we have now...since getting rid of all that extraneous stuff...is a step stool!

 

Mosaic Monday and Mail Art

Nothing tells you Spring is here more than when you start hearing the birds singing...such a lovely sound!  The other day I went to get into my car and I almost stepped on this little bird's nest that had landed next to my car.  At first glance I thought it was just a bunch of twigs bundled up like a tumble-weed so I was going to simply toss it in the trash.  Then upon closer inspection, I realized that it was a perfectly formed birds nest.  Obviously it had been abandoned last winter and with all the windy weather we've been having it was blown out of a nearby tree.  So I brought it inside and placed it on my bookshelf in a small iron chair.  If you look really close, you can see some green, plastic grass...you know...like the fake Easter grass that you fill your kids baskets with?  The really annoying kind that you find yourself vacuuming up for months after Easter!

Since it's the first of Spring and it's Mosaic Monday, I thought I'd make a simple photo mosaic of my pretty, little birds nest.  It makes me smile every time I walk by it ;)

Mail Art from wonderful new blog friends also makes me smile...

On Saturday, I received the most adorable mail art from a new friend, Karen, who has left some really sweet comments on my blog and who I have since, been conversing with via email.  Karen doesn't have a blog of her own as yet...or I'd send you all on over ;) 

How sweet is this envelope and her "memo" and the "used library cards" she sent me for my collage art projects?  I'm also going to save the envelope and use it in an altered album...a travel album of course!  Thanks so much Karen...I really appreciate you thinking of me and all your time and energy in putting this together for me.

Hope everyone is have a wonderful start for Spring and for this Mosaic Monday.

Fondly, Roberta

Mosaic Monday: More Bags of Hope

Message of HOPE for Roger...

Yesterday, while DH was watching Nascar I decided to go out and take advantage of the beautiful weather that we were having and to run some errands.  ONE of those errands was giving out my LAST Bag of Hope that I had put together.  I found Roger standing at Wal-Mart parking lot and when I first pulled up and rolled down my window he didn't want to make eye-contact.  SO when I handed him the bag I asked him for his name and he looked rather stunned and SO I asked him again and he finally looked at me and answered.  I responded with my usual...Bless You Roger, my name is Roberta...and I actually got to look him in the eyes and he SMILED!

You can see that I was able to capture him {in my side mirror ;} peeking into his bag....happy dance!!!

Mosaic Monday: Valentines Sale

UPDATE:  The Valentine Sale has officially ended.  Thanks to everyone for your wonderful comments!  ANY orders placed after noon on Wednesday, Feb. 9th will not be shipped until Tuesday, Feb. 15th.  Have a lovely weekend ;)

For those of you who are looking for something special for Valentines Day be sure to check out my ETSY shop between now and Wednesday while I'm offering a 25% off Valentine Sale ;)

In stock I have one Formal/Special Occasion Pop-Up Book and the photo above is a provided to show you how you can personalize these mini-albums with your photos and memorabilia like I did here for my son's junior prom ;)

You can also record your favorite special occasion memories in Valentine's inspired Pop-Up Book, that is already embellished for you with photo-safe stickers, papers, pockets, ephemera and more.  This mini-album is completely assembled and waiting for you to gather your photographs, memorabilia and sentimental stories.  Start your collection of Pop-Up Books today to share with your family and friends for years to come.

Mosaic Monday...Amazing New Tea Products

For those of you, who are like me, and have a real passion for tea!

Just so excited to show off my new water kettle, IngenuiTEA cup and tea honey that arrived this weekend from my favorite on-line tea shop, Adagio Teas.  Now I could have sworn that I bragged...blogged...about Adagio and their wonderful IngenuiTEA cups for brewing loose tea...but I'll be darned if I can find the old post to link it up!  So much for being organized...ha!  So now I just have to share their video with you all so that you can see this cup in action...go here now and click on the green button to watch ;)

Mosaic Monday: The Simple Gifts of Christmas

This weekend we went to Davidson, NC for our monthly hair appointments at Halo Salon and to deliver simple gifts of cookies and muffins to our stylist and great friend, James.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star...Mosaic Monday & A Giveaway

Cortney of Living & Loving in California is celebrating her 100th Blog Post this month with a special giveaway.  Of course I wanted to share this with everyone BUT more importantly I wanted to tell you about how proud I am of her.  Cortney...who for those of you who do not know...is also my niece ;)  However, I'm not just proud because she is my niece...I am proud as a peacock...because she is an accomplished young woman who has written more than 100 posts in 7 months (big...don't you think ;)  while working full time as a Special Education teacher.  Newly married (they just celebrated their 1st Anniversary ;) Cortney brings a fresh outlook to marriage and makes us all laugh at her antics in the classroom and at home.  I've gathered a few of my favorite posts and created a photo mosaic from these posts to share with you all for Mosaic Monday.

Strawberry Pillows Forever...

 
Oh my...this is heaven on a plate ;)

If I was on death row and was asked what I wanted for my last meal...without a doubt...Strawberry Pillows forever!  They are made at our favorite store, Fresh Market...but you had better hurry because they only make them in the Spring and Summer when they can get good strawberries...oh my!  I was so happy when I walked into the store this weekend and saw them in the case at the bakery counter.

Simple Ways to Make Your Fall Decor Festive & A Giveaway

One of my favorite things about fall is the colors...the reds, the oranges and all the yellows that suddenly pop up everywhere!  It's actually fun to run errands because when you hop in the car and drive around you get to see the beautiful trees with their bright colored leaves, the fall flowers and lots and lots of pumpkins.  So this year...because I just do not have the room to store seasonal decor {or wish to put it in my off-site storage facility to dig it out every year ;} in lieu of buying the faux decor, I'm being more organic...

 
Nothing says welcome like a pot of mums and a Cinderella Pumpkin...yeah got these at Trader Joe's!

YES...It Really Is Rocket Science!

Leaving the World Behind

by Jonathan Queen, March 2009, The Artist's Magazine

This weekend we met up with my son, Timothy and daughter-in-law, Ashley for the 12th Annual October Sky Festival in Coalwood, West Virginia...home of the Rocket Boys!

 

Mosaic Monday: Birthday Dinner at Maggiano's

This weekend DH and I went to Charlotte to spend time with family and friends.  We were getting together to celebrate birthdays...mine and my Irish Twin sister Debbie's...Irish Twins because we are only eleven months apart and so we are both the same age from my birthday, July 29th until her birthday on September 2nd.  But we were also celebrating my nephew's birthday, Wesley who turned 29 on August 19th so we all met up at one of my favorite restaurants, Maggiano's Little Italy, restaurant.  We were joined by my good friends and past co-workers, Beth and Kim who just had to check out my favorite pasta dish, Chicken & Spinach Manicotti...yum ;)  

 

MOSAIC MONDAY: Then there were twelve..,

Little Dresses for Africa...

 
I was so excited to complete 12 dresses in all and to get them mailed off to Kristen of, We are THAT Family in time for them to be included in her campaign to send off 200 dresses to the organization,  Little Dresses for Africa. 

 
Above photo of Little Girls Needing Dresses provided by: Little Dresses for Africa.

I cannot tell you how happy I was to be able to participate and I will be starting another batch in August when I'll have more time to sew.  In the top center of the mosaic you can see a photo of the dresses folded and ready to be wrapped for shipping and on top you get a peek at the cute little socks that I found to go with the dresses.  In the yellow bowl near them on my desktop you can see all of the scraps that I have left over that I am going to use in a fabric journal...oh yeah!  More fun...to come!

Today I'm submitting my photo mosaic of all my little dresses to Mary's blog, Little Red House, for her weekly blog feature, Mosaic Monday.  Be sure to hop on over and check out all the lovely photos.

Fondly, Roberta
 

Mosaic Monday: Yummy in my Tummy Recipes

Mosaic Monday, hosted by Mary of the Little Red House, blogspot.

Recently I participated in Where Bloggers Create II, the 2nd Annual Party to Share Your Creative Space.  For my post, I included three different photo mosaics of the different projects that I have created since I started blogging two years ago.  Because there just was not enough space (or time) to include all the links for the photos in my post, I decided that I would provide them here for my Mosaic Monday posts.  Going in the order that the mosaics are in my post, this is my final mosaic for WBC II, and I'm sharing the links to my Recipes:

 
Starting from the top left corner:

1.   Spicy Mixed Fried Rice

2.   Blueberry Cornbread Muffins

3.   Chillin' Chili

4.   Cheese Stuffed Manicotti w'Sausage Meat Sauce

5.   Cheesy Barbecue Meatloaf

6.   Bar-b-que Chicken

7.   Baby Back Ribs

8.   Chicken & Pork Picante

9.   Chicken Picata

10. Cuckoo Cookies

11. Banana Pumpkin Muffins

12. Potatoe & Egg Salad

Mosaic Monday: Sewing Projects

Mosaic Monday, hosted by Mary of the Little Red House, blogspot.

Recently I participated in Where Bloggers Create II, the 2nd Annual Party to Share Your Creative Space.  For my post, I included three different photo mosaics of the different projects that I have created since I started blogging two years ago.  Because there just was not enough space (or time) to include all the links for the photos in my post, I decided that I would provide them here for my Mosaic Monday posts.  Going in the order that the mosaics are in my post, this week we will start off with my Sewing Projects:

 
Starting from the top left corner (please note that some of these links are to posts that give detail art instructions for how I actually completed my project while others are just photos of the finished project):

1.   Bathroom Storage Area

2.   Curtains for Bookshelves

3.   Curtains for Bookshelves

4.   Sewn Party Paper Cutlery Bags

5.   Vinyl Patio Cart Cover

6.   Sewn Cards: Wedding Inspirations

7.   Sewn Cards: Embellished Envelopes

8.   Vinyl Patio Bench Cover

9.   Quilted Journal Page

10. Vanity Re-Vamp

11. Sewn Cards: Thank You Card

12. Little Dresses for Africa
 

Mosaic Monday: Art Journaling

Mosaic Monday, hosted by Mary of the, Little Red House, blogspot.

This weekend I participated in Where Bloggers Create II, the 2nd Annual Party to Share Your Creative Space.  For my post, I included three different photo mosaics of the different projects that I have created since I started blogging two years ago.  Because there just was not enough space (or time) to include all the links for the photos in my post, I decided that I would provide them here for my Mosaic Monday posts.  Going in the order that the mosaics are in my post, this week we will start off with my Art Journals: Starting from the top left corner (please note that some of these links are to posts that give detail art instructions for how I actually completed my pages while others are just photos of the completed project):

1.   My Summer Art Journal

2.   Fantasy Folded Altered Book

3.   My Summer Art Journal

4.   Day 5: The {21} Challenge

5.   My Summer Art Journal

6.   Day 11: The {21} Challenge

7.   Day 21: The {21} Challenge

8.   Day 15: The {21} Challenge

9.   Day 13: The {21} Challenge

10. My Summer Art Journal

11. Day 7: The {21} Challenge

12. Day 9: The {21} Challenge

Mosaic Monday: Oops there she goes again...

Mosaic Monday

Mary has hosted Mosaic Monday for a while now on her blog, little red house, and I have followed her blog since I read her interview on houzz...

Houzz Interview: Mary's Little Red House

Houzz- Kitchen Design, Bathroom Design and More»

 

...so love that site!  AND I was the lucky winner for the houzz giveaway for commenting on Mary's interview...how cool is that :}