Friday, July 27, 2012

19th Century bling!

I decided to add some millinery to  spruce up Ester's bonnet a bit.
These gorgeous little blue flowers are actually made of paper. I bought them at a Japanese festival we went to in June.
I also added some little paper beads from the bridal dept.(wonder what I'm doing shopping there!) I'm loving just how shabby chic she is turning out!

xx
~Annie

Thursday, July 26, 2012

In the studio

Ester has her costume completed, 
and next I will take them outside and try to get some pretty pictures of them!
Close up of her bonnet.
xx
~Annie

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Ruby and Ester

Here is a sneak peek at Ester. 

She is all ready for some clothing!
 Be back soon!

xx
~Annie

Monday, July 23, 2012

Bridal Shower!

Yesterday we had Chelsea's bridal shower!
Isabel and I worked very hard on it for the last 2 weeks.
This outfit was Isabel's gift to her sister!
I managed to snap a very few pictures right before the shower started, and then my battery died! One of the bridesmaids took reallt great pictures which I will share when I get them.
This is the punch table with traditional punch, ice bucket, and lemonade. The punch bowl on the right with the lemonade was thrifted for $6.00! It came with 10 cups and a floating glass ladle! I was able to pick up extra glass punch cups for .50 cents a piece at Goodwill. I now own about 35!
This is a quick snap of the bridal table. I wish I had a better one to show you. I love all of the satin chair covers and for the bridal table we stuck little flower bouquets in the back!
This is a lace parasol that my girlfriend borrowed to me. This gets passed around in her family whenever anyone has a shower.You just change the ribbons and flowers to match the brides colors.  She comes from a family with 15 kids, so she has like 7 or 8 sisters. This has been passed around a lot and its still in great shape.
 I was honored she offered to let me use it!
This is the party favor, a candy buffet! All of the glassware was thrifted, and then I polished up the silver serving spoons from my own family set of silver. It all looked so pretty!
Isabel and I made all the boxes. They were supposed to have a little plastic bag of candy with a ribbon, but we decided to punch holes on the sides and add a handle. We tied 2 little silver rings on the handle with the organza ribbon. Love the way they turned out!
I wish I had a good picture of the whole room to show you. 
It all turned out so pretty!
We had so much fun and all of our family and friends truly showered her with everything she will need to set up her new home in September when she gets married!
We are so blessed!

xx
~Annie

Monday, July 16, 2012

Ruby finished

And now I'm working on her little sister; Ester.
Here is Ruby:
Stay tuned for Ester.

xx
~Annie

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

This is Ruby!

I am quite enamored of her!

She will be about 28 inches tall. 
I'm trying to decide if she will have a bonnet, a hat or if I'll just continue with her hair.
 I love the way her face came out-I used acrylic paint and colored pencil. 
Still one of my favorite techniques!

Folk doll joy!!

xx
~Annie

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Bridal shower in 2 weeks~Aagghh!!

Chelsea chose her 13 year old sister to be her maid-of-honor.
 (Here they are dressed in the japanese kimonos their grandmother left to them)

 So that means her sister must give the shower.
 And since she is 13, that means essentially I am giving the shower. 
LOL!
But I am thrilled to do it.


 (Here is a much nicer picture of Isabel, she would kill me if she knew I posted that picture above, but luckily she never reads my blog!)

We are having a very traditional shower.
 Women only-no boyfriends or fiances!
Just 4 generations of women
 getting together to make the bride feel special
 and shower her with the essentials of setting up a home.
They will not live together until the wedding, 
so she needs everything. 
Just like in the old days, 
I love it!

One of the things we are doing is passing out advice cards to all of the guests. I designed them myself. They will be cut in half once I get them printed, making 2 cards per page.

What do you think?

xx
~Annie

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Cherry pie

We got the most delicious cherries on our vacation in Michigan. 
Gotta make one of these:


Yum!!

Summer morning

OK!
After a good and restful nights sleep I am up early, said my morning prayers, took the dog for a long walk while its still sort of cool(not!) and now I'm ready for this:

Oh gosh-its not showing up too well. Gotta work on the photo editing a little more I guess. These are all little watercolors I did while I was on vacation.
If you were here girlfriends, I would offer this one to you!

 And we could sit on the back porch while the morning cool inches away from us
 and discuss the garden. 
We pulled 3~ 12 inch cucumbers off the vine last night! 
Yay!
 The summer bounty is beginning!
 I have 2 wonderful basil plants too, and I'm going to try to make my own pesto.

I love summer!

xx
~Annie

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy 4th of July

This is a 4th I will truly never forget!

Our church held a 24 hour prayer vigil to pray for our country and our first most cherished liberty, which is our religious freedom.
Our youth group participated in the vigil by spending the night in the church hall and going into the church to pray and spend time with Jesus intermittently. 
Isabel spent the night and I made it until 4:40 AM, when my tired old body headed for home for a longish nap and I returned for the morning mass. I applaud the moms who stayed all night, and the ones who did early morning 3:30 to 6:30 am shifts.
When I arrived this morning-still quite bleary eyed-the kids were energized and joyfully cleaning up the hall. 
They were filled with the spirit! 
 It was wonderful to see.



I know you will all agree that we LOVE our country, and cherish everything she stands for and is founded on!
So proud to be an American mom today!

And after another nap, suprisingly, I feel pretty good!
Bring on the BBQ and fireworks, I'm ready to celebrate,
thankful for this wonderful country we call home! 
 
 

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Poppies

The whole time I was painting this I kept hearing the wicked witch from 
the Wizard of Oz saying,
"Poppies...poppies will make them sleep..."
hehe!
I'm painting my way through an instructional book on 
how to paint flowers that I bought at Michaels.
Learning is fun!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Getting married

This is my beauty getting married in September. Every day it becomes more real!
I'm so happy for her but its still hard to let her go!
Love you so much my darling!

Watercolor poppies

Got the scanner working!
My first attempt at poppies.

On TDIPT this month

Ophelia and her daisies!
Click here to go to TDIPT Mercantile for more photos!

Flowers in my garden

I can't believe I took this picture myself! I am loving these coneflowers this year!

Been working in watercolor the last couple of weeks, including the week I was on vacation in Traverse City Michigan.
I just got a new printer, so when it is completely set up I will have some scans of my work to show. But for now, just flowers from my garden!