Little Runny Noses and a Fairy House

Hello all :) I'm in the middle of getting invitations and thank you notes out for my latest parties...it's so nice to take a break and see what you all are up too!

I wanted to introduce my girls, my heart, to you...Madeline Mae first because she is under the weather. She is only 10 months and is sad because she doen't understand why she feels so yucky.

Maddie Mae is such a good baby...very mild. She walks, claps, blows kisses, and shakes her head to "shiver me timbers!" I feel so lucky to have her, to have them both, but it is bittersweet sometimes because they are growing up too fast. I'm trying not to be sad about that and just enjoy the moment. When I look at Lillian (I'll introduce her in the next post), I feel like I blinked.

Since I can't work on my bee girl while my little munchkin is sick, I thought I'd post something I made over the summer. We visited family on the east coast and I decided that their garden needed a fairy house...or more so the fairies did! Can you find the doorbell? :) Lillian made the sign and the fairies were kind enough to write her a thank you note. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the white round thing above the door is a crystal doorknob! I'd like a crystal window too please! :)

Fun on the Playground...Tag!

Adri tagged me! Thanks Adri! :)

5 Things About Me

1. I have the craziest things in my garage! Seriously, giant sharks, fairy wings, tunnels, 5' clamshells and toadstools. I host children's birthday parties and I love it. Funny thing...whenever I have my garage door open, people drive by VERY slowly. Here's my toadstool house...

2. I can tell really long stories. My family makes fun of me for this, but I think I'm getting better. At least I know my nephew tells longer ones!

3. I LOVE Gooseberry Patch cookbooks and Christmas books. They are beautiful, sentimental, and full of great recipes AND crafts too! Every recipe is donated by a reader...if your recipe makes it, you get a free book. So people submit their family recipes...recipes that have been handed down and include their story about it. Someday I'll post the cranberry white chocolate cookies I am famous for...at least at Dave's work that is. :) Gooseberry Patch

4. I have a tendency to plan to do 1 million things at once. I'm always working on something, but have ideas for something else too. I guess I just keep trying to fit it all in. Kind of like my parties...my husband calls them "Monster Parties" after that show Monster House...remember that show? I'll do about 5 steps more on everything than I have to.

5. My ears are small...really small. They look normal, and you wouldn't notice it unless you really looked at them, but they are smaller than my 6 year olds! I guess they just stopped growing.

Okay...so now I have to tag 5 more people, right?
Hmm.....
I....pick....

1. Ragged Roses
2. My Collage Art
3. Earth Angels
4. Bloom Handmade
5. Mika Art

In other news, my Valentine girl is on ebay and I've painted my bee girl! :)

Hugs to you all!

Mere

Love is Kind

I don't know about you, but as much as I like Christmas, as soon as it is over, it is ALL about Valentine's Day. Maybe it is the store's fault, but all that pink gets me in the mood for it. :)

I have 5 nieces and nephews...the youngest three are always over on the weekends. There I was, peacefully reading my favorite blogs and my awesome guy says, "Why don't you make something with the cousins?" Having what seems like my own JoAnn's in my house, I pulled out all sorts of goodies, some scap mdf and we went to work.

I was really impressed with what the kids came up with. There was a crown, a name built into a picture, a butterfly garden, and a bee girl. I am SO doing a bee girl of my own next...she's already drawn. :) This time, I made a valentine girl.

My valentine girl knows that love is kind. I told her all about it. I've been married almost 8 years, but awesome guy and I dated for 6 years before that. Of all the moments, the times that I felt the most loved was when he was kind to me. When he comforted me, helped me great ready for one of my "monster" parties, nursed me back to normal after my c-sections, surprised me with flowers, and held up his coat from me to put on even though we were both cold. You get the idea.

My valentine girl reminds me to be kind too. Sometimes it's easy, but when life stresses us out, it can be difficult. She reminds me to return those acts of kindness because I want to show him I love him too.

She's been hanging by my front door. I've enjoyed her. I'm ready for someone else to enjoy her, if they fancy her. Maybe she could remind someone else of the times their loved one was kind. Maybe then I'll have room for my bee girl. :)


Therefore, I will humbly offer her on etsy tomorrow. In the meantime, she'll be hanging by my front door. :)

Wishing you all lots of love and kindness!
Mere

P.S. Thank you Adri, Lori, and Suz for being my very first comments of my new blog. I was so excited to hear from you...you all are like celebrities to me! :) Thank you! Your fan, Mere

My Day in Kindergarten!

My Day in Kindergarten!
Originally uploaded by victorianladyaz1

My daughter's class celebrated their 100th day of school the other day. I'm a room parent and my job that day was to monitor one of the six activity tables. For fun, I sat down with them instead. I colored with them and had great conversations with the adorable little people around me. It brought back memories of being that age. Even the boy across from me ate some glue...eww! :)

One of my favorite artists, Suzi Blu, does a great job of reminding us to have fun...that we have the right to play with art. She has a whole collection of videos on YouTube...if you haven't seen them...you should! They are entertaining, inspiring, and uplifting...even Madeline loves to watch (did I mention that she's 10 months old yet?). Suzi Blu got me into painting people and I have never done that before. Now, I can't seem to stop!

I have a Valentine painting/collage that I will share tomorrow. Until then, have a great day!

A Blog By Any Other Name...

Roses from my awesome guy
Originally uploaded by victorianladyaz1

Would smell as sweet, right? I hope so! So there it is...These Are the Days. Why? There a lot of things about the way people used to live in the past that I wish was still here today. A slower pace, more innocence, and appreciation of family, love, and the little moments that life gives us. Instead of pining for "those" days, I decided to use this blog to focus on these days and making them full of the things I love.

I also want to blog because I would like to share with you, fellow bloggers, the way you have been sharing with me. There are so many lovely artists that I admire that I found merely because of their blogs. I love reading what everyone is up to...it is my morning coffee to check out my subscriptions and just plain makes me a happier person for the day! I thought it would be nice to try and share what I've made to return the favor.

Who Am I? I know! I should say that right? lol My name is Meredith and I live in Arizona. I'm married to an awesome guy, David, and together we have two daughters, Lillian and Madeline. I'm lucky enough to stay home with them, but in return I have a whimsical party business that I run on the weekends. This is my 5th year and I'm really happy that it has gone so well. I also do web design for a few different companies.

My real joy is my family and crafting. I'm lucky that I found the man I did. I can't express enough how much I love my babies. Lillian would interject here and remind me that she's 6 and NOT a baby! As for crafting, I've been doing it since I was a little girl. I got my first sewing machine when I was 10, but I had been using my mother's long before that. I'm not the kind to stick with one kind of craft...ideas are always in my head. I buy the supplies for those ideas, but I don't always get to them in time. I'm going to make the effort to block out some time each day to craft just because it makes my soul lighter.

So that's it for now. I hope to meet lots of you. Have a great day!

Mere