Happy birthday to my Grandson

God blesses us with some amazing surprises. That's what he did with our precious Colby. My youngest and last grandchild. He tried to come almost 3 months early. But fortunately he made it to almost full term. 

He weighed a little over 4 pounds but I think a pound of that was that dark head of hair. 

From the beginning, he has been full of laughter and fun and joy.

This picture was the day he saw Santa Claus that lived beside me come out of his house and he was doing "Ho ho ho" all evening.

From the moment he could walk, he has had a ball or glove or something sports related with him most of the time. 

He's has played baseball, football, and basketball and when he isn't playing it he will watch it on TV or find clips on You Tube of his favorite team. He can rattle off stats like an adult on some of his favorites. He got picked up for a travel team and has so many 1st place tournament rings and tropheys that I've lost count. He's a great player and that's not just a proud mamaw talking. He's got real talent.

I sometimes wonder how many pieces of clothing he has that are sports related. LOL.

This was this past summer. Excuse the hat hair but I had to have a picture.

Happy birthday Colby James. I hope you have a totally amazing day. I love you.

 

Happy Sweet 16

 Sixteen years ago today we were blessed with our very first granddaughter.

She has always had a happy smile and tons of love to give. I can't help but wonder where the years have gone.

Happy Sweet 16th birthday, Alexis. I love you.

Giving it a try....

So I saw these on something last week. I had some yarn and ribbon so I decided to try one. 

Super simple and very happy with the results. 

My next thing I want to try for Chrismas is one of the santa hats for a wreath. Check out the various ideas I found.

This one reminds me of Whoville.

Love the elf feet in this one.

I have seen all the picks in this one at Hobby Lobby so I could find the stuff easily.

Just some things to think about.

Unfocused....

Not sure what's going on, but I am having trouble focusing on things I want to do lately. Perfect example. I want a graham cracker pie. My husband always made them for me. They are my favorite pie. I bought stuff several weeks ago. So Monday, I got everything out to get ready to bake. Even got this old recipe book from Mom where she mades notes about the recipe so we could make the pie just like she did. I studied it really goo. I pulled everything out of the cabinet and got it organized. Then I took one look at all the stuff. And one look at all the directions......

......And then I made banana bread from a box mix and the easy no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies.

I am all about easy any more. That is why when I tried to find a Christmas project for red yarn, I decided on this. It can't get much easier than that.

Have a happy Wednesday. 

Seven day catch up....

I haven't posted anything in September because I've been so busy already this month. Thought I would take today to catch you up on the first week of September and what I have been doing. The main thing is I have been getting up earlier in hopes of seeing the sunrise. One day last week I was rewarded by timing it right. I woke up as this slight light was shining through the tree tops.

I patiently waiting about 5 or 6 minutes and sun was behind the trees creating the image of a fire while the had a golden glow with rays of yellow streaking through. It was well worth getting up for.

It was our first chilly fall-like morning. I fixed my first cup of hot chocolate and marshmallow of the season, grabbing my book and headed to the porch to enjoy my morning.

Over the next few days, I started getting my fall stuff out and decorated as I could between all the other things I had going on. I love my fireplace because it has several settings and one is where the fire is going but the heat is actually off. It was pretty to have on while I did some decorating.

Just one of my little shelves.

I love how my favorite Pyrex just happens to go good with my fall colors.

The kids were so silly in this picture, but it is one of my favorites of them. This would have been about 8 years ago.

Just love decorating the tops of my shelves and tables. 

I love my little scarecrow. The fact he has on blue denim on made me get these blue placemats. They go with my blue dining room, but still allow me to put fall colors in there. It all compliments each other I think.

Isn't he just adorable.  

I am still looking for a fall centerpiece for the kitchen table. I want a big pumpkin or something. I love my little owls, but still need some work on the centerpiece.

I love my McCoy pitcher that belonged to my grandmother. I put flowers in it for every season. 

Not much to decorate the wine rack with yet except the new gray pumpkin. Looking at Hobby Lobby this weekend to see what else they might have.

I actually got me a new coffee table. Even assembled it by myself. But I love the way it looks with my pumpkin and candy dishes.

Well, cleaning and decorating took up most of the past seven days. The rest was filled with rest, cooking, baking and just hanging out at the house. Even managed a 3 hour nap yesterday. I am regenerated today. Now to see what this week brings. 

Introducing Twisted Crystal Artisans, LLC

I would like to introduce you to a new company that was launched this weekend by my close friend, Aaron Smith. It is called Twisted Crystal Artisans, LLC (TCA for short).

As a Disabled Veteran from the USAF, Aaron has had a goal to start a business featuring some of our local artisans who are very talented in their field. Since the beginning of 2020 and the growth of COVID-19, Aaron has had the time to finally research and implement his dream. In addition, with his leadership and management skills from his military and civilian careers, he is launching a consulting side to his business to help others who are looking to get their business off the ground. I have the privilege of assisting him with the consulting branch using my skills I learned working in marketing for over 12 years. Let's meet the team....

   (Top left: Aaron Smith, Top right: Troy Burris, Bottom left: Matt Smith, Bottom right: Brenda Keefer)

Our premier artisan will be Troy (T.J.) Burris. Troy is an artist who works with various media creating some of the most unique artwork that I have seen in a long time. He does professional wall murals, pouring which is a technique where acrylic paint is mixed with some type of pouring medium and then poured onto a surface in a variety of ways. He is also working on some exclusive paintings he will be releasing soon.

All T.J.'s paintings will be released on TCA as canvas prints and will be limited editions, numbered and signed by the artist. I am fortunate to own one of the very first pieces he did, and it hangs in my dining room. It is called The Vine. I own the original painting, but it is available in various sizes in a canvas print. 

Here is one of his murals he has done on an entire wall in Sheree's Sweets and Treats in Dandridge, TN. We are excited to be able to feature him as our Premier Artisan.

In addition to painting and artistry, we will be producing a line of t-shirts and other apparel featuring the graphic designs of T.J. along with the designs of artist Matt Smith. I have seen many of Matt's sketches and I am so excited to see his designs come to print on an exclusive line of shirts which Matt is working on. Sorry, no sneak peaks just yet. But rest assured his line is going to be amazing. I will be featuring them whenever the release is ready. I am going to order one as soon as it is available so I can own the first original Matt Smith line of apparel.  Just keeping it under wraps until the release date of his new line.

We are working on a contract with a line of blown glass products that we are super excited to release soon by various glass artisans. Our founder is also a gifted artisan. Aaron has many talents and we will be carrying a line of his creations as they become available. I own one of his creative pieces that sits proudly in my home office. I was blessed with this gift last Christmas when I decided to convert my office to a Steampunk theme room. I could not have been happier to receive a Steampunk lamp for my craft table made especially for me.

 You can see we have lots of exciting things in the works as we continue to add artisans and products. We also continue our support of social distancing during Covid-19 by featuring a line of custom face masks. All our masks are 100% cotton fabric, machine washable and made in the USA with a comfortable fit. One size fits all. There are many fabric prints available. In  addition, if you have a "theme" that you want to check and see if we can custom create for you, just use the Contact Us form on our site our site to speak with one of our team. Our team has their favorites. I am partial to the Biker's Dream since I love paisley prints and bandana patterns.

But I also love the Cotton Candy Dreams with the tie dye look.

But if you go to the site to see all the masks, you will immediately know why the Born to Bake is my absolute favorite. 

I hope you visit the site at www.twistedcrystalartisans.com and would love to hear your feedback. You can also subscribe to our newsletter or visit us on Facebook. Be sure and like or follow us to receive updates. Thank you for taking the time to check out our new site. We are all super excited about it. 

Have a blessed day!

Fall and Halloween ideas

Just some things I have seen that I like for fall and Halloween decor.