Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to be Cowgirls…

Paper Cowgirls, that is…They’ll take off and head to Waxahachie, Texas for a Texas-size celebration leaving a trail of glitter and paper scraps  from every corner of Texas and Louisiana. The occasion was the Paper Cowgirl Altered Art Retreat which brings together a variety of  very talented and versatile teachers along with an equally varied group of artists.

One of the high points of the event is the Swapping! You heard me, Swapping! We gathered and created and swapped anything you can name! No, not our dearly beloved hubbies…they were left at home to keep the plants watered.  We swapped crowns, packets of ephemera, specially-created charms, embellished dominos,  inspiration collections, art trading cards, and a fabulous fat fabric book. Everything had a Texas theme or a vintage paper connection! We all came home with more treasures than you can imagine.

I gathered 15 packets of vintage paper for the paper Treasure Swap…those packets were traded for 15 different collections…Lots of “ooohing” and “aaahing”as we opened our packages.  They were filled with

Postcards and

Greeting cards and

Packets of treasures.

I added some Republic of Texas cash to spend in the shops on Vendor’s Night…

Of course, I included a picture of myself dressed in my first rodeo outfit…I’ve aged a bit since then…the years have been good to me…but it’s the weekends that have done me in.

We also created Miss Texas crowns to present to our partners…I made a Cowgirl Tea Party crown for Miss Nancy.  It featured a group of ladies ready to rope and ride along with a sweet little tea set to remind us that every dusty trail deserves a cup of tea.

Here we are sporting our crowns: Queen LaVerne, Cowgirl Tea Queen Nancy, and Princess Suzi Buttons.

Marie’s creation for Gail included a presentation pillow!

 

Valita’s crown included a matching scepter!!!

 

Organizer Joanna received a fabulous crown

The entire group felt like Texas royalty!

And that was just two of the swaps!!!No telling what next year will be like! Tomorrow I’ll share a few class shots…Until then, remember, “Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowgirls…

Pink Saturday

Last week I shared a couple of pictures of Gianna’s nursery…well, today I’m sharing GIANNA…who will be a little princess in her pink kingdom.

She is sound asleep oblivious to the whirl of activity celebrating her homecoming. Her nursery is just off Mom and Dad’s room…come on in to a wonderland of girlyness…

She already has a closet full of pretty outfits just waiting for her to grow into…Look how organized she is…everything by size!!! Isn’t she clever?

And most important for any young royalty,  an adoring Queen-Mother…

Aren’t they beautiful?

Happy Pink Saturday to all. Thanks for stopping by to share the joy and thanks to Beverly for hosting the group. Visit Beverly to say “Hi” and have a lovely week full of pink from start to finish.  LaVerne

Room fit for a Princess

My goddaughter, Najla Mery, is welcoming her first daughter in royal style…Little Gianna will join Mom, Dad, and big brother Blake  when she comes home from the hospital today…Pink Saturday!!! June 20 which is also Grandma/Sito’s birthday!  And a pink day it will be…take a look at the nursery…

Facebook | Najla Mery's Photos - Gianna Nursery

Facebook Najla Mery's Photos - Gianna Nursery

Facebook | Najla Mery's Photos - Gianna Nursery

Facebook Najla Mery's Photos - Gianna Nursery

The one that didn’t get away…

Now what am I going to do with it?

Last Saturday I set out on a quest for a little doll chest of drawers that I had seen last May…it was still in the shop and so it came home with me…at a great sale price, no less.

It was missing the knob on the top drawer so some inventive soul glued a tiny china tea cup in its place.

 

The top has been painted with pink roses and I’m thinking about what I’ll store in its three little drawers. Any suggestions?

Have a great Pink Saturday…stop in to visit Beverly and the other blog hostesses…Have a very pink week. LaVerne

Pink Saturday’s Gonna Be Red Hot

Today, while you’re enjoying the air conditioning,  I’ll be at Wimberley Trade Day in what is predicted to be 100 degree heat…Don’t worry, I’ll have a big Igloo of Iced Tea and Travis has a lovely location  for his booth (375) with both shade and an occasional  breeze.

One neighbor always has lots of pink… 

In May, she had this lovely lady. Can you guess, or did you already know, she’s a napkin holder…folded napkins are tucked into the slits making her skirt into a full bouffant. I couldn’t picture it, but almost bought it for the novelty…if she is still there today, she just might come home with me. Another tempting item was this little pink chest. 

I was so engrossed with the items in the foreground that I didn’t even notice it until I was looking at the pictures later…do you ever do that?  Well, if it’s still there, that would be a sign…I know you do that! Everyone I know justifies purchases using that exact “logic”…If it’s there when I come back, it’s meant to be…if it’s gone, it becomes the “one that got away” and we start searching for one like it…whatever it was…it doesn’t  matter…it could have been a perfect shell in the natural history museum shop or a watercolor we really couldn’t afford, or a pair of bedroom slippers…once we’ve seen it and “lost” it, it becomes the most beautiful _____ whatever it was , you fill in the blank…

So I’m off to Wimberley while you enjoy Pink Saturday with Beverly as she begins moving into her second season.  If you’re in the neighborhood, drop by for an iced tea…we’re in Booth 375…I’ll be wearing PINK . LaVerne

Musical Chairs seems to be working…

After a week of creating the nightly Chair Defense, things are finally getting a chance to bloom…

but that means putting the chairs in place well before dusk, and not daring to run out for a quick early supper at our favorite Tex-Mex spot without securing the premises…once the chairs are in place, we can relax and enjoy a Margarita… it’s worth it…when we get home,   I can count pretty blooms instead of chomped off stems.

The rest of the gardens are being “protected” by fencing…the little culprits still munch on the rose buds that stick through the wire and the more daring, probably the young bucks, stretch their necks over the fencing to nibble…but that’s next week’s battle.

It may not be pretty, but it works…

My cute little succulent garden was taking a nightly hit from the deer…

 

they love the flower buds on the yellow  blooming plants…they eat them like peanuts… not the zinnias…those they leave alone. But everything else was deer salad…until I resorted to the Chair Defense.

It’s not pretty, but every morning and evening, I have a mission to protect and then restore the garden…in just the three days I’ve been doing this, there are already dozens of yellow buds and flowers.

Saint Francis approves the strategy…I’m not left with some ugly fence and he doesn’t have to smell the stinky “Liquid Fence” which doesn’t work anyway.

Next week I take another picture when everything is happily blooming. It’s a gardening miracle! Amen