He Love's Me!

"Happy 25th Anniversary"

What's On Your Plate Today?

Here's a sampling of mine...

#1 Work for wonderful son in law...building a list. Hummm...never been much of a list maker. Probably would have paid off though. This would be a great time for my brain cells to kick in a develop a program that would import search criteria results into specified fields created on an existing spreadsheet. Easy right? I'll let you know. Just when I really begin to enjoy writing little snippets and thoughts, articles and blog comments...I get the list building chore. Oh well, gives me time to meditate on today's scripture and devotional.

#2 What's for dinner? Oh that's easy today, Riley wants sausage, biscuits and gravy. Super simple supper! Guess a fruit salad would be a great addition too.

#3 Some Super Hero Capes are in the works for my adorable grand kids. Who doesn't love super heroes and who doesn't love working with fleece. So soft and this project is easy-peasy-pudd'n-pie!

#4 Cut out fabric to make Autumn's skirt. I have my daughter fooled....yeah, she thinks that I am a "fabulous" seamstress. I love her...she always boosts my ego. Truth be told...I'm an average seamstress that loves her daughter so much that I would do anything for her. Well for that matter, I would do anything for my children. But Chris, Lucas, Riley and Jake don't ask me to sew many clothing items for them. I'm a little nervous though...the first cut is the hardest. We spent over an hour picking out her material. That was so much fun and the kiddos were with us. They were amazing and of course Autumn and I beamed with pride when the cute little elderly ladies commented on how good they were. And they were... I am so proud of how Autumn and Michael have taught their children to be respectful and polite. Same with my other grandchildren, all of them a respectful and polite. My grandma crown is adorned with sparkling rubies!

Here's what we picked out...and let me just say, they we both could have spent another hour or two picking out more. I love fabric!



and here's what Haven does when he does get tired of shopping...



he just finds some friends and has a chat with them!

That's probably enough for my plate today. We will see how much gets accomplished.

I'm off to build a list!

This is Personal....It's All About Me!

Well here it is, almost the end of October. Can you believe it? What's new in this blog and what does the future hold?

Here's the scoop....this blog site has now become my personal domain for me....not Rustique Art, not anything business related. But it will still have the name because I'm just too lazy to shut this one down and start a new one. Therefore, it will reflect the personal side of Rustique Art which is me.

Just fun and personal. My time, my thoughts, my reflections. As a mommy of teens, adults and dogs, grandma of 8 and one more blessing coming in January, sweet loving wife, *my opinion of course* I need a place to call my own.

I have created another site for my Rustique Art business blogging and will be using that one to promote my designs, crosses, Christian artists, Etsy team members and various other business related topics.

This spot is like my favorite pair of worn out blue jeans. Soft, cozy and comfortable. A safe harbor. A journey through my thoughts. I suppose there will be a few train wrecks along the way, but most of the time my thoughts and reflections are quite sane for now.

I can't guarantee that my soap box won't get pulled out and stood upon. After all isn't that what a blog is for? To get things off of your chest?

How about bragging about your children? And grand babies? Oh, yes...this is definitely the venue for that.

Praising my wonderful man....he is wonderful. I will most definitely give him some blog time...only the positives though. If there are negatives, I give those to God in my prayers...dirty laundry just doesn't look good in a blog.

I would like my place and time spent, encouraging others through thoughtful prose. Sharing fun stories, laughs, recipes, giggles and of course cute pictures.

Yep, this is a great place for staying connected to those I love and those that I don't get to see so much anymore. Mom lives out of state, sis lives out of state, extended family live out of state. Friends move away, daughter moved away. *sniff*

So in the words of Stevie Wonder...."I just blogged to say I love you..." *ha...I'm so funny*

Hugs,

Who Needs TV?

Seriously...who needs it? I've said it before...there's not much worth watching these days. Now with places like YouTube, Tangle and other various video sharing sites, television, at least in my opinion [in my blog that counts] is loosing it's appeal. Or maybe it's just my age and the fact I have so many other things I want to do, there is no time for the teletube any more. I found this on my friend Eric's site, Stone Art USA ...thought it was adorable and wanted to share.



I'm going to go snuggle with my dog now....he's so cute!

Click, Crop, Fill'r Up!

Finally uploaded all of my wall cross and other Rustique Art pictures onto my flickr page.

It only took me....hmmm 4 hours!!!! That was just uploading, tagging and sorting into sets. Which by the way is so amazing.

Love it....it's like organizing your underwear drawer. :)

I just want to keep going back and looking at it....open, close, open, close.

You can take a tour anytime you like. You might recognize some really old designs, some of them I had forgotten about. Like the TeaChimes.

I might even sleep better tonight knowing that all my pictures won't be lost if my computer ever crashes. (bite my tongue)

So my trip down memory lane was fun but now I feel the creative bug nudging me toward my studio. I went in and turned the lights on....saw my work table....turned around and walked out.

Talk about a big elephant in the middle of the room! I know, one bite at a time.

I was feeling faint....I had to sit down and write about it.

Maybe that will motivate me to organize my work zone. Ugh!!! I think that's why I love working on my website, etsy and blogs. Oh, did I mention that I have a wordpress blog now two. It is very organized and pretty.

Why does Rustique Art need two blogs?

Why not....it's fun to write and everyone needs more great things to read online! Right? Add to that, Muggsey & Mae my Etsy shop with vintage dishes, cookie jars and tons of other junk not yet listed....it has a blog now too. And I'm thinking about another one....I said thinking.

But of course all of this just keeps delaying the obvious....cleaning my studio.

And then....I really need to finish some crochet projects. I don't have a blog for that yet! Need to get that going....It will be about just simple crafts and projects.

I know....it's time to go.

I've put it off long enough. Unless....

Antique Cookie Jars...Fond Memories!

Everyone I know collects something...many collect more than one something. Like me, I collect snowmen, books, beads and at one time I collected lovely antique cookie jars. I have probably over 40 now and at one time more. I've given some away as gifts, I've broken some, *sob* displayed them and boxed them up. Like everything in life, it has a season. I'm ready to move out of that season and move these treasures out of my house. Oh, I will keep a few...some are very cherished and will be kept until I leave the earth, then they will go to one of my children. However, most of them I can and will part with.

The story behind my collecting cookie jars began way back when I was expecting my first child. Almost thirty two years ago, being so big in the belly, I had to bend over while standing up, just to tie my shoes. It was while I was in that strange position that I spotted my first cookie jar. It was a duck and I later on found out that this duck, who I've dubbed Mae, was made by Hull Pottery. Behind Mae was another find and thus my second addition to my collection. Muggsy, an adorable little dog with the sweetest face, was made by Shawnee. Those two I will never part with. They were from my grandmother's kitchen and although she had all but forgotten about them and had relinquished them to the depths of the second self on her microwave stand, I had miraculously found them. And to think...it was all because of my huge belly!!

Time went on and I began collecting more cookie jars over the years. However, the first two were my favorites. I love flea markets and antique stores and our family traveled to different states quite a bit. I would usually return home from any vacation with a cookie jar. Always excited to get it home, wash it up and display it until my next jar hunt. I love dishes too and just about anything that looks old, rustic and eclectic. You can imagine how my closets must look....thirty two years of collecting!

Since Etsy so kindly allows vintage items to be sold on their site, I took a bold step and set up my second Etsy shop and named it...."Muggsey & Mae" It was a logical choice...right? That was a year ago....and today I am just now to the point that I can put my cookie jars in my shop. Am I sad? No....not sad, however it is very difficult to put a value on things that you have loved and cherished. It's a daunting, time consuming task....wash, dry, photograph and research. I feel it's my responsibility to enlighten and educate those that just want to look at or buy my cookie jars. Wouldn't you want to know the history of an item if it had one?

So that's where we are....my jars and me! In a wonderful reunion of memories. This will take days, weeks and months to get these lovelies on the site....but I want to share them with you before they find new homes.

I'll begin with her....this sweet little bear. You think she's the one that stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

American Bisque Girl Bear Cookie Jar

I don't know...He's the one licking his lips!

Brush Smiling Rabbit Cookie Jar

Both of these beautiful vintage cookie jars will be on display with details and available for purchase next week at Muggsey & Mae!