Flea Market Style Magazine is coming...

For all of you who love to recycle and repurpose..........

For all of you who scour the thrift stores and get up at O'dark-thirty on a Saturday morning to find treasures at garage sales...........

For all of you who were sad to see your favorite magazines go belly-up..........

For all of you who love to enter contests......

Have I got great news!!!!!!

This is a brand new publication coming out in less than a month, and they have a fabulous contest going on right now!

Want to play? (I do!)

Go here for the details.....

Good luck!

dog tags

This past fall and Christmas season I worked on another fun project......

My friend Kriste (who also happens to be my sale's rep) has a son who is about to graduate from the US Air Force Academy. (hi Shelby!)

His class was looking for a fund raiser, so Kriste asked me to make a dog tag for moms - cute, huh?!

I can take ZERO credit for these cute little baubles - this is all Kriste - I was merely her hands and feet.

On the front.....

on the back....

ready to be sent off....

But then I got to thinking.....

What if I made a version of these for ALL moms and grandmas?

Remember the old grandmother rings?

In the 90's I even had a *brats* necklace (always hated that name) - who remembers those?

Here's my new 2010 version......

back......

*the tie that binds the generations*

(that's us - the grandmas!)

front....

I think these are just dandy!

The one in the picture is mine - those are my precious grandkids' names surrounding Oma. (of course I had to include Corban - who hasn't even been *hatched* yet!)

Stay tuned to find out more about them and how to order.....

just in time for.....

♥Valentine's Day♥

and

 ♥Mother's Day♥

Thanks for checking in...

Pammy

a new kind of hero...

I have been reading a lot lately about what/how people are helping the people of Haiti - it is on the tip of almost every blogger's pen.
There is one who stands out to me though. Her name is Ree Drummond. You might know her as The Pioneer Woman.

Many bloggers throw cyber-contests, but the PW had the best one yet. She offered to give a $500 donation to 2 (two!!!) different charities - but you had to leave a comment to be entered and mention your favorite charity. She would also donate 10 cents for every comment left to one of the top three charities mentioned in the comments.

 In roughly one day she had over 25,000 (yep - twenty-five THOUSAND) comments. That's over $2,500. She drew the names, and because she couldn't decide which of the top three charities to honor....she donated 2,585 to each!

Also mentioned was a website to go to that rates charities - just in case you didn't have a favorite, you could find out who was doing most effective job. You can go there yourself here.

Here are some wonderful organizations:

American Red Cross
Doctors Without Borders
Compassion International
Samaritan’s Purse
Save the Children
Direct Relief International
World Vision
CARE
UNICEF
Salvation Army

....and here is one that I personally love: Convoy of Hope. (They already had a food bank up and running in Port au Prince when the earthquake hit)

So here's to all of those who are on the front lines when disaster hits - my prayers are with you all as well as the people of Haiti.....

new attic specimens

Just wanted to take a moment to show you what I have been up to......

I found some cool little metal shadow boxes and cut some glass to fit on the top.

I cut out some squares from an old 1927 cookbook and decoupaged them inside the box.... Then I added bugs 'n nests and sealed it all up with a bit of solder.

...each one with different *ingredients*

...that's a tiny old watch parts vial - I threw a few old gears inside just in case you didn't know what it was for....

I think they look a little like scientific specimens, don't you?

I made a nest from a scrap of wire and added some vintage pearls....love this.

That's all folks....

Pammy

and the winner is.......

Linda!!!!!

I had several people email me their word or contact me through Facebook and Linda was one of those. So Linda, here is your necklace.....

it is on it's way to you tomorrow!

Now I promised you that I would also take the week to ponder this very important issue.

I had a few ideas - some of them were suggestions of yours. I kept coming back to the word *listen*. I want to be a better listener, a better wife, a better mother, a better daughter, a better sister, a better friend. One of the ways to do this would be to stop talking so much and start listening more. I don't always have to have the answers - don't have to always be right. It doesn't matter who I know or what I do - I don't need to be the funniest person in the room.

But then I realized that all of this is rooted in pride. When I looked up the word pride, I not only discovered its definition, I also found it's antonym.......


hu⋅mil⋅i⋅ty: [hyoo-mil-i-tee]
–noun
the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc.



There was a young woman I heard today in a video who captured the essence of how I want my 2010 (and the rest of my life) to unfold - perhaps you have heard of her - Rachael Barkey. She died last summer from breast cancer at the age of 37. I strongly urge you to listen to what she has to say - during her message, she speaks from a reality that is very profound and oh, so authentic.

You can hear it here.

So a HUGE thank you for participating in my little contest - but mostly, thank you for inspiring me and encouraging me.

Blessings,

Pammy