{Reminisce LTD- new business venture}

I started a new art and photography business on facebook. Reminisce LTD I recently started the page. Right now I'm in the process of making some pendant jewelry with my graphics. I hope you still stop by and "like" my page. I have a few samples up of the current items I'm working on =) This is going to be an exciting new adventure~

xoxo
MaryAnn

{ Vintage Kodak Brownie }

I love photography and cameras, especially my Nikon 70s DSL. I take pictures almost every day! My love for taking pictures and cameras has spured on a new collection, vintage cameras. Not that I needed much help starting a new obsession. Once a collector always a collector.

My son Christopher found this adorable little Brownie Bullet at the flea market recently for a great price of $2!! He thought I would like it for my collection..... well YEAH!!! He's a keeper my son.

I didn't know much about this little camera so I did some research on the internet. The Brownie Bullet was made from 1957 to 1964. It was never sold by Kodak but was made for promotional purposes. Companies gave away the camera for free or in the instance of Campbells soup, you collected soup labels and received a camera. The companies had a "give away" and Kodak gained new customers because they had to buy film and use developing.

My Brownie is a Canadian version. The camera is made out of bakelite. It's small and light and fits in the palm of your hand. I'm so happy to have it in my collection.

I'm also glad that I have a digital camera to take pictures with now. I don't think I could stand waiting for film to be developed any more!

PS That lil girl sitting on the lap...(is me!)

{ Word of the Year }

Have you chosen a Word of the Year?
Apparently, a Word of the Year is the new New Years resolution.
(I know I should have posted this in January, but it's never too late!)

Basically, you choose one word that has the potential to inspire you and create intention in your life, all year long.
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I heard about The Word of the Year link pary that will be going on at The Lettered Cottage. It got me thinking...

What word would I pick to inspire me this year....
It's a toss up between two words, Yes and Blessed.
I'm having a hard time choosing which one, I think I need both this year.

I chose the word "yes" because frankly I tend to say "no" a lot more then yes. Not because I'm too busy, or have better things to do. But no, because I'm more backward and shy. I don't like new situations. I get uncomfortable. I don't like wandering too far from my well traveled path. But, this year I'm going to try and be brave and say "yes" more often. What do I have to loose? I want to open myself up to fun, to new adventures. New places, new things, new food and new people. Hopefully when I look back on the year I will be happy I said yes!

The other word "blessed" is more personal. Times are so busy. The days fly by. Sometimes I look back and think where did the (day, week, month) go. I want to be more aware of the blessings I have. Sometimes I get caught up in the "wants" and forget to be thankful for what I do have. A loving Husband, Son, Daughter in Law, home, kittes, food and more. I saw a quote recently that made me pause.... What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things that you thanked God for yesterday~ hmmmmmmmmm I want to be more thankful.

I may have to write "yes" on my hand and "blessed" on the other, to remember my new words...... YES world here I come, I'm thankful for each day I get to try!

xo,
MaryAnn

{ Craft Room - lil chest of drawers re-do }

Starting out small on my craft room (formally my son's bedroom)re-do. Getting this room done is long long over due. He was been married for over a year and out of the house for two plus years. =) I guess I had to wait till my heart was ready to change his childhood bedroom.

So here is the project in all its ugliness. This little dresser was used as a baby dresser for my oldest sister (I'll be sweet and not post her age) and all the babies in the family since. Including her two grown sons, and mine. It was formally an odd shade of beige. Then when my son was young I gave it a "country" make-over.

I'm almost a shamed to post the photos, it looks so ugly. What was I thinking? The shade is a country burgundy. I think it is definately time for a re-do.

New knobs or not? That is the question. Is the little dresser worth purchasing ten new knobs? Maybe I can find some at the flea market come spring...

Here are the color swatches that I gathered from Lowes recently. I really can't decide if it should be green or blue. I am totally in love with spring/lime greens. Then I have seen some beautiful furniture done in sort of a Tiffany box blue... decisions, decisions.

Out of the batch of green I like two of the samples. I love yellow green, or spring green. Some are to light, one too dark especially for in the room where the dresser will be.

I love two of the shades of blue. But should it be light or dark... I'm never going to be able to decide.

Even MORE blues, this time from True Value...

Then last night I was thinking................... what about purple???

I need help... what color would you paint this lil dresser?

xo,
MaryAnn

{ Winter Vignette }

In December my Honey and I stopped in an antique shop in a local mall, The Black Rose. We had so much fun going through each booth.

In one booth I spied two unique globes on an old harvest table. I had never seen anything like them before. They appeared to be lantern globes. I just loved the huge size of them. I could imagine using one of them for some pretty cloche like vignettes. All the while we were walking around the store I kept thinking about them. When we were ready to leave I stopped by the booth again. Unfortunately, I let my other half talk me out of buying one. It was Christmas time and I wasn't supposed to be buying stuff for myself.

I'll tell you, all week long I kept thinking about that globe. I just couldn't let it go. So, the next weekend we went back again and thankfully they were still there. My husband was lucky, because I would have really been mad at him. They were also on sale which made it even better. I picked out the one that was in the best condition and happily took it home.

After some investigation, I learned that it is a Dietz Pioneer Ham Street gas oil light lamp globe. They were made from 1880 to 1944. The globe has turned "sun purple" from long exposure to the sun. It has Dietz Pioneer stamped in the glass. It is 10 1/2 inches tall and 9 inches at the widest point. I'm sure you can see all the possibilities for this globe and why I fell in love with it.

I decided to use a winter theme for my vignette. I love snowmen. I have a huge collection. Some of the snowmen we made, as well as the wooden pine trees.

I added some pine branches and arborvitae branches from my garden. Also some huge pine cones my Honey found ages ago, that I have kept forever. I love the simple look of this display on my living room table.

What do you think my next vignette should be? I'd love to hear how you would use this globe in a display.

xo,
MaryAnn

Linked at:
White Wednesday
Wow us Wednesdays
Whatever Goes Wednesday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Show Us What You Got
Under $100 Linky Party

{ Cherry Cream Cheese Cupcakes }

Cherry Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Batter: 3 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened 5 eggs 1C. sugar 1 tsp. vanilla Cream all ingredients together. Add graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of the cupcake papers. Fill 3/4 full with batter. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Topping: 1 small sour cream 1/2 C. sugar Beat together 210z can of cherry pie filling When cupcakes are done place a tablespoon of sugar on top. Add a cherry on small cupcakes and three cherries on regular size cupcake. Bake for 5 more minutes. MY TIP: I use a 1 1/2 quart plastic pitcher for the batter. It makes filling up the cupcake papers easier. Especially if you are making the mini cupcakes. You can also use Vanilla waffers instead of gramcracker crumbs.

{ New Beginnings }

On Sunday my Honey's vacation was winding down. It was a beautiful day for January. Almost sixty degrees, which is unusual for winter. We decided to go for a walk at the lake. One of our favorite places.

I think a lot of other people wanted to get outside too. You never know when the cold weather or snow will hit us, so we were all enjoying this lil bit of spring.

I decided to bring along a thermos of hot chocolate with a secret stash of marshmallows. =) We walked two miles to the end of the path and sat at a picnic table by the small waterfall left over from a grist mill.

We were the only two people in our little spot. It was so quiet. We were hoping for a pretty sunset but the clouds started moving in. We decided to head on back. It was a long two miles in the other direction.

About half way back, a gentle rain started. I don't think we have ever walked in the rain. I was kind of special, holding on to my Honey's arm as we strolled along. We made it back to the truck and sat there for a few minutes. We sat and watched a huge flock of several hundred seagulls flew over the lake. They looked like diamonds in the sky. A perfect ending to a perfect day~ Days like this are treasures.

xo,
MaryAnn

{ Special Gift }

I made a special gift for my Daughter in Law Sarah for Christmas. I couldn't post it until now- didn't want to give away the surprise.

There usually is "one gift" at Christmas, which you just can't wait to give to someone. The anticipation was killing me =) This Christmas, this was the gift that I couldn't wait to give...

I made this wall print using Creative Memories Storybook software. But you could use any photo editing program. The wall print is 16x24. The photograph was taken by the wedding photographer, Karen Jennings. We have permission to print these photographs. I love how the photo of Christopher and Sarah is off center. This left a perfect place for the words to the song, they danced too for their bridal dance. The song is The Luckiest by Ben Folds. Down the left side I placed a black strip of "digital" paper. I added the title of the song. The words to the full song are in the center of the photograph. I love how you can still see the wedding guests in the background. The photo has a one inch white border around the edge. The photo was uploaded online to the Creative Memories website. It took less than a week to arrive. I purchased a black satin frame from K Mart. They were the only place that I could find this odd sized frame at a reasonable price.

I hope Sarah and Christopher will treasure this keepsake from their special day. The day was a fairy tale come true~

xo,
MaryAnn

Linked at:
Show and Tell Wednesday
Sew-Crafty Tuesday
Whatever Goes Wednesday
Home Sweet Home
Feathered Nest Friday
Friday's Unfolded
Friday Flair
Simply Link Party
Show and Tell Friday
Feature Yourself Friday
Transformation Thursday


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{ Christmas with a cat(s) }

Looking through photos from this Chrismtas and old photos from Christmases past. I had to giggle at all the cat-antics that showed up over the years. There is something about paper and boxes, dangly ornaments and tree skirts that just bring out the craziness in cats. =) I hope you enjoy the photos of my furballs.

This year is Fiona's first Christmas. She had fun playing in the garland.

Fiona is a Princess in the house and she wanted the sparkly beads all to herself. Maybe she wants to wear them for Christmas.

Mikey IN the Christmas tree. He is the first of our cats to do that. He is so big the whole tree was shaking. I guess he wanted a tree fort.

Rusty in the tree box. Over the years all the cats have loved playing in the Christmas tree box. You just can't keep them out of it.

ohhhhh SHINY.... I wonder what it is..... tap..tap...tap..hmmmm it moves...

Tell me, what is it with cats and the tree skirt??? Notice where the tree skirt is, in relationship to the tree.. No matter how many times I fixed it. This is what I found. Sparky loved it.

See what I mean? (he looks too cute doesn't he?)Yes my cats are spoiled.

Happy Kitty, this photo says it all. Rusty and his present from Kitty Claus =)

Be nice boys. Sometimes they don't want to share.
Do kids always fight over toys on Chrismtas???

Guess Comet won in the end ~

Christmas Cat-tales from our home to yours..
Meowy Christmas
xo,
MaryAnn

{ Vintage Paper Angels }

Hidden in a box, wrapped in tissue paper I found these little beauties. They in my Mother in Law Ruth's Christmas boxes after she passed away. She must have loved them because they were carefully stored. She loved angels~

I love these little angels. So pretty, tiny and delicate.
Made out of bits of paper, foil, lace and a bit of mache.
I have no idea when they were made. 1940s maybe?

There is a set of five different angels, each one a bit different.
They all have a tiny instrument in their hands.
They must play in the heavenly choir. They are as light as an angel feather =)

I will cherish these on my tree and think of my Mother in Law Ruth.
I was blessed to have her in my life.

I love vintage ornaments on the tree. I love the ties with the past.

If anyone knows anything about them, I would love to hear it.
xo,
MaryAnn

{ Five Lil Stockings }

The stocking are hung
on the banister with care
in hopes that Kitty Claus
soon would be there~

One for Mikey, Misty, Rusty, Sparky and Fiona. All lined up in a row.

Meowy Christmas~
From Me and the furbabies
xo,
MaryAnn


Linked at:
Sunday Showcase
Funky Junk Interiors