Honored and Blessed.....

The Mother Goose ATC Swap is over and the swaps have been made. I was honored with the first prize, which I found quite amazing as this was my first attempt at making ATC's and because all the entries were so awesome. I feel truly blessed to have been able to participate and to not only give but to receive original works of art like these. Thank you to Lenna at Creative Swaps and Leslie at Alpha Stamps for sponsoring this swap.

Here is the oh so sweet Mother Goose Tote that I won as first prize from Alpha Stamps......

Each participant also received a fun Goosey Goosey Gander toy cut-out sheet.....
Lenna threw in a wonderful packet of collage materials......
And, Lenna created this wonderful handcrafted ATC holder for each participant. It is made from hand painted and stamped cardstock with a ribbon tie closure.....
Now for the ultimate treat, the beautifully detailed mini works of art.....

First I removed a darling little ATC by Rena Matus, it is a Humpty Dumpty themed card. The picture does not do this piece justice. It has a white satin background that is hand stamped and embellished with clear and yellow glitter. Humpty is stamped on white satin and quilted with silver metallic thread and then applied to the background. On the back Rena tweaked the traditional Humpty Dumpty rhyme to read as follows:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

this little egghead was just to darn cute

to have a great fall

so out came the blankets and out cam the sheets

and the Royal Eggcatchers caught Humpty

before he hit the street.

Too sweet! Thank You, Rena, I love it!

Next I pulled out a rather royal lady indeed, the Queen of Hearts, making some tarts. This royal lady rests on a lush red velvet background and is embellished with a bejeweled silver crown and mini pink seed beads. This lady traveled here from the U.K. and was made by Frieda Oxenham. I think the baking beauty is wonderful, thank you, Frieda!
Then out came Mistress Mary, quite contrary, and I think her garden is blooming beautifully! Mary is a fabric background who is decked out in seed beads, buttons, lace, and a snippet of ribbon with part of the rhyme imprinted on it. The edge is finished off with a pretty decorative stitch that reminds me of little shells! The back is finished off with a pretty piece of tone on tone paper. The blooming beauty was made by Victoria Talcott Wormell. Thank you, Victoria, for this little work of heart!

Next I pulled out what looked to me like a Victorian Valentine! The fabric background is a pink and red harlequin pattern with a fabric overlay of the Queen of Hearts baking her tarts. She has been framed in a rich red embossed heart shaped frame. The flower embellishment is velvet with cute red satin heart topping it off. The back is an awesome black and white print with a shimmery pink ribbon overlay that has a climbing green vine on it and the title of the piece. This sweet treat was made by Megan Hull. Thanks, Megan, for this tiny treasure!

And last but certainly not least I pulled out this pastel piece. This one had the theme of Mary Mary Quite Contrary and here we can see her garden is in full bloom. The floral fabric background has the sweetest scene zig zagged on it, a tiny child is peeking through the garden gate, a bit of green rickrack and ribbon with a snip of the rhyme printed on it edge the piece. A bit of lace and buttons round out the design. On the back is the sweetest lace pocket holding a tiny tag. This sweet garden scene was created by Cynthia M. Zdanzukas. Thank you, Cynthia, for this blooming beauty!

I hope you have enjoyed viewing these tiny treasures.

Blessings,

Miss Sandy

A Fairy Tale

"Divinest Autumn! who may paint thee best,
Forever changeful o'er the changeful globe?

Who guess thy certain crown, thy favorite crest,

The fashion of thy many-colored robe?"

R. H. Stoddard - Autumn.Dear Readers, in an earlier post, I told you I was expecting a visitor, well, she finally came! I was so very excited to see her. I had long awaited her arrival. She was originally due to arrive on September 23rd but she was delayed. She blew in with a brisk chilly wind on a cotton candy cloud kind of day, like this...... She is quite the traveler, her delay was due to so many interesting stops along the way. She was in Corey's neighborhood for a foreign film festival. She thoroughly enjoyed a 1947 french film with English subtitles entitled, La Belle et La Bete, (Beauty and the Beast). This is a beautiful and magical film, I too have seen it and highly recommend it. She brought some still shots from a program to share (click on smaller images to enlarge).....

From there she arrived in her distinct style in the US where she traveled east to west and north to south! She loves to fly and her preferred mode of transportation is by private charter. These are a few of the ways in which she has winged her way around the world.....

by bird, butterfly, dragonfly, and moth!

You must understand that she is no ordinary lady but a bit stylish and quite colorful. She paints the landscape in her unique style where ever she goes, in colors like these.....

Upon her arrival she left a note on my front stoop. She had written upon a leaf with a blue jay quill dipped in golden ink and weighted it down with a lovely heart shaped stone.....
I alerted a few of her friends, with whom I was sure she would want to visit and they gathered for her arrival. You might remember a few of them that I mentioned in an earlier post. Meet.....

Old Brown and Squirrel Nutkin! Peter Rabbit sent his regards but was unable to attend as Mrs. Peter Rabbit had just give birth to twins, Honey-Bunny and Cottonball!

We only get to see her once a year and our time together seems all too brief. Now The Fairy Tree is not exactly the kind of quaint B & B you or I would be comfortable staying in as the name seems to suggest, you see, it is a real TREE......

She arrived sporting a multi-colored cape like this...
A stylish new chapeau (hat) rested upon her head. She fashioned this creation herself and she was carrying the latest in handbags. She was wearing a gossamer gown of the best haute couture (she is quite fond of using french words after her visit to France) and her feet were shod with tiny ballet like slippers. Her golden tresses were styled to perfection and she had tiny jewels pinned in her hair.

I gasp when I saw her delicate dress.....
And I asked her where she got such lovely fabric, so shimmery, light, and sheer, almost like a wedding gown. She giggled and said she had actually been visiting with a relative of mine and her gown was fashioned from scraps off the sewing room floor. She had been to see my cousin, Jaime of elyseREUBEN Couture Gowns and Molly's Clothing! She brought with her some wonderful news - Jaime's gowns had been chosen for three bridal magazine covers and she brought pictures......

Congrats Jaime! I'm so proud of you! Much love XXX OOO!

She said that while she was in LA that she met someone who was related to someone famous. You know that happens all the time out there and she had her picture taken with him. This was amazing to me as she is a bit camera shy, but here it is......She met the cousin of the Travelosity sponsor, The Roaming Gnome!

I inquired about her stylish new hat.....

And she said she got the idea for its design while visiting at The Feathered Nest. She said Dawn's blog banner gave her the idea, that and an unfortunate encounter with an empty nest, a tree branch, and a one loony Luna who thought she might enjoy a loopy loop. A close brush with a tree branch left her new doo filled with twigs, leaves, and acorns. Upon arriving at Dawn's she peered into an antique mirror and exclaimed that her formerly groomed tresses looked like a birds nest! Hmmmm, an idea was born. I hope that Dawn won't mind that she snitched a few feathers from her banner as a final embellishment....
Her tiny handbag was her attempt at going "green" which is all the rage right now she tells me. It is made from natural fibers, burlap, which was recycled by some of her fine feathered friends who wove it from hay string which they found discarded on a nearby farm. She used 100% natural materials for embellishment, tree bark, lichen, moss, acorns, pine cones, leaves, grapevine, and a few more of Dawn's feathers, AND get this, it is totally bio-degradable! Here it is..... Her little bag is very much like that of Mary Poppins, you won't believe what all it will hold. First she pulled out the most delicious little green velvet acorn .....And said she got the idea from Cindyforeyes aka Cindy is Crafty . Cindy made these little cuties with a yoyo maker and she was so generous in sharing her technique and even offered to send along the little acorn "caps" if they were needed, too sweet!

Then out spilled the softest pink scented rose petals.....

I asked her where she got them and she admitted to plucking a few from here and there like when she visited Miss Rhea's Sweet N Shabby Roses and Cute Pink Stuff, she simply plucked them off of a hand painted birdhouse, some from vintage dishes and I think she even got some from the fabrics! I am beginning to think my little friend has a problem, sticky fingers!

I asked where she ever found such tiny yet stylish slippers.....And she said that Pinkpomegranate catered to all the Belle's of the Ball and had the cutest shoe selection, not to mention the most wonderful costume designs. She says she wishes she could be one of the porcelain skinned, beribboned, bejeweled beauties like she saw here.

Speaking of Jeweled Elegance, I noticed the little jewels adorning her hair and told her they were quite becoming on her......

She sighed and said she had such a hard time making up her mind, should she sport a glittery crown like or something more simple like Swarovski crystals or a tiny woven birds nest, from the Secret Garden Collection at Jeweled Elegance, filled with Swarovski pearls in pink or blue like the ones she saw here? What's a girl to do? She finally decided that her hat was quite a statement and you cannot wear a crown at the same time so she settled on the crystals.

She also brought along snapshots of her travels.....

She was inspired to try her hand at photography after visiting Q's Corner, where a picture is truly worth a thousand words. There is very little dialog but you don't need it, the photos are stunning!

Autumn, that is my little friends name if you have not guessed it already, seemed to tire a bit and decided to take a walk about our property. I snapped a few shots of her in a contemplative mood as she studied the handiwork around her...... I sat beside her in the lily garden beneath the stone bird bath offering her her choice of toad stools......








We sat quietly for some time and then I said, "A penny for your thoughts." She said she had traveled far and wide and seen everything there is to see. She is blessed to have the opportunity to do this every year. She was thinking upon an interview that she saw being taped and was deeply moved by. She had the pleasure of viewing the presentation entitled, The Interview With God, where she was enthralled with the landscape photography and carried away by the background score, but mostly profoundly moved by the message of God's closing words, "Just know that I am here." "ALWAYS"

She smiled as I handed her a penny.....

And we decided to toss it into the wishing well.....
What did we wish for? That you, dear readers, will be incredibly blessed in whatever season of life you are in and by knowing that our Heavenly Father is with you and available to you.....ALWAYS!

Blessings,

Miss Sandy

P.S. All these wonderful sites have been added to my Friends to Visit section of the sidebar for you viewing pleasure.

Photos: Pumpkins - Johnstons Pumpkin Farm, Cotton Candy Sky above my home, Scenes from La Belle et La Bete, Robin at the Old Mill, Butterfly in my Grandmother's garden, Dragonfly at Petite Jean, Luna and Polyphemus in my yard, Forest Scene at Petite Jean, A Leafy note on my stoop, Owl in my back yard, Squirrel at Lobo Landing, Two little motherless bunnies, The Fairy Tree in our woods, San Diego Style Weddings Magazine covers, Flowing water at the Old Mill, Wildflower on the bank of the Little Red River, Bird Island at sunset - Destin, FL, Nature trail at Petite Jean, Turtle Rocks at Petite Jean, All photos of little Autumn were taken at my home.