First gloriosa of the season...at my house!

Summer girl and boy embroidery fun!

Today our whole house was home sick, except DIL, who is still healthy despite living with all of our germs!!! While she was at work, I engaged the grand kids in some embroidery fun! They both enjoyed it so much...it amazed me!

Below you can see some progress has been made on my butterfly, and Emily's completed project. She embroidered free-hand, the yellow marks! At almost 4 years old she was able to grasp understanding the process of going up and down through the fabric. She actually needed NO guidance from me to complete what she wished to do.

When she was done, I added a border to tack down the fabric to the back, and added her name, the date, and how many years old she is. I think it turned out beautifully, and it was a big surprise for her Mom when she got home from work, all finished and hanging on the wall.

I am thinking of having her do one a year to see how things progress.

And now for some young manbroidery! Donovan did the center design...adding a bit of gold sparkle thread which you can see better in the close up! I added the red x's to sew down the fabric to the backside, and add a border, then added his name and the date.


Here is a second one he started later this evening showing a firework going up and exploding. Can you see the moon in the sky? How sweet.

I had a very enjoyable "sick day" with the grands!
xoxo- Julie

Periwinkles, Roses, and a Lizard Friend

Nothing influences you like the wishes (especially sweet ones) of your precious grandchildren!!! Going against my efforts to go all perennial, Donovan REALLY WANTED to pick out a few periwinkles yesterday at Home Depot! Of course, Grandma Julie said "Yeah, OK...sounds good, Mr."! So here are 4 new ones, one reddish, one purple (violet), one light and one dark pink. I wanted a white, but none were available. I just got them into a tire this morning, while to was still bearable to go outside...(heat and mug)... Should be very pretty in a few weeks!

Oh, BTW...my Home Depot no longer carries miniature roses...I have to go to Lowes or an independent nursery. Interesting.

Here are a few shots of my miniature yellow roses...gosh they are so fun! You deadhead, and BAM...a few hours later, you are seeing tons of buds! This could be enough to EVER keep me from returning to work! LOLOL. Yeah. Right.



This pink one below is what the buds sometimes look like in the early stages! Strange, eh??? Then they turn yellow. So sweet.

Here is a little friend who met me this morning, and seemed to be unafraid as I spoke to him, and got closer for a photo...he was out a'courtin...with a lot of dancing and flapping of his dewlap! So amazing.

Lazy embroidery, and organized craft storage area!!!

This beautiful vintage fabric (and about 10 others I brought home with me) were in my Moms craft/sewing room! I decided, I wanted to be lazy and just embroider on an already established pattern...so I am doing it. Just started tonight...and am loving it. So relaxing to have no cares...just start filling in. I plan to just make quick decisions, and add other details as they come to me. Very carefree, and perfect for summertime stitching. I don't know about you all, but trying to do much serious decision making in full dead of heat summer here, is impossible...I am just strapped inside in the a/c. So during my few down times, this is what I am whiling away the time doing!!! I will share it again later as I progress.

BTW, I love this one particular thread I had never used or seen before...I believe it is called a Brazilian thread called Lola...rayon. It has a sheen to it, and it is so easy to pull through the fabric. No strands to separate...just cut and go. I thought I might like to become their major saleswoman for this product, but then I found that it is sold out in some online sources! I guess they don't need my sales skills! :)

This larger shelf with all the new storage bins was a huge disaster area a few days ago. I asked daughter is she would get it cleaned up and organized for me, and she said YES!!! We measured the space, went to Target, bought 4 of these containers...each is three drawers that measure 13x13, so scrapbook papers are no problem...4 of these just fit perfectly! She did a great job, and even labelled each drawer. What a gal!!! Below that you will see the grandkids newly cleaned up and organized "home library", which they just love!

Stay cool in this summer heat, and if any of you want to start embroidering, let me know so I can come see!
Love Julie

I guess I was always a mixed media fan!!!

Look at what I found in my Moms house! A card I had made for her. I must have made it as an early teen, I'm guessing. At first, I did not see all that I had combined to create this "extra special" card for my Mommy. It was surprising for me to find this.

I had taken a piece of paper, covered the front page with a floral tissue paper, then added a pink tissue paper heart I had cut out. Then added a cartoon. Went around the front edges of the card with a small decorative scissor cut, and then added gold glitter.

The inside had stickers on the left, and on the right side was a poem I had found. No author had been credited in my card, but I will search online to see if I can find out who wrote it. Here are the words, which I found to be so wonderful...and made me shed a tear or two when I read it.

God made a wonderful Mother,
A mother who never grows old.
He made her smile of the sunshine,
And he molded her heart of pure gold.
In her eyes He placed bright shining stars,
In her cheeks fair roses you see.
God made a wonderful Mother,
And he gave that dear Mother to me!






And on another note, how about this little feller that meets me on Moms front porch some mornings (especially rainy ones). I nearly sat on him twice...he is so camouflaged! Isn't he cute??? (Well...it's one of these "he's so ugly, he's cute" kinda deals)!!! :)

xoxo- Julie

New yellow mini roses, my older pink drift rose, and some hips

I had to make a run to Lowes this morning, and came upon these pretty yellow miniature roses. I bought three thinking i could fit them into one tire....but that was seriously pushing it...so only two in one tire, and i put the other next to my geranium in another tire.

I transplanted 5 purple knights into a third.

I've had it with annuals at the moment, and am aiming to load up with perennials.

Has anyone ever made rose hip tea??? I've read some about it online..it is high antioxidant. I think that the hips combined with a nice Irish Breakfast tea would heal the sick!!! I am aiming for a cure-all for myself...aching bones, asthma...those sorts of things! Hehehe.

If you are wondering why i say Irish Breakfast tea....i have become a tea conossieur...i have been experimenting with different black teas, and have found the Irish Breakfast is superior...very strong, and smooth.  This would be the best one to combine the rose hips with, for me.

Oh...my neighbor is giving me a pot of what she calls "Vick's Plant"....it is thick leafed, and velvety...and smells just like Vicks vaporub!  It speads,  and she needs to part with them...i have a picture of a small peice of some here.

I am posting from my camera, and everything will be random.

Sea World picture, and our awesome villa stay.

This is my one pic at Sea World last weekend. Well, I do have a few more of Donovan wearing a multicolored flashing mohawk wig as well...but I will save that for another day! LOL. Anyway, the grandkids are standing looking into the dolphin tank...and don't you know a few of them were actually mating right in front of the window! That was a first for me!!! LOL.

We stayed in a 3 bedroom, 2 bath villa at Sheraton Vistana Resort, and it was really wonderful for families, and for family reunions! There are 7 pools on the property, and all sorts of other fun areas and things to do!
I only tell you this because we truely had a wonderful time there and would go back just to hang out there on resort property!!! Forget about Disney World and Sea World...just relax! Ahhhhh...I can imagine it now!!!

We did not relax...we were moving every moment we were awake!!! But had a lot of fun!

A new award!

Well, I just walked in the door from a 3 day trip with my little family to Orlando over this past weekend, and discovered an award had been given to me from Debbie at Dewdrop Gardens!!! Thanks, Debbie! I recently discovered her...she is a gardening gal, and loves all her animals...including fish ponds and chickens...and one is named Pepsy after her favorite drink!
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Here are the rules for this award:


1. Thank the Blogger who nominated you.

2. Include a link to their site.

3. Include the award image in your post.

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself.

5. Nominate 15 other Bloggers for the award.

6. When nominating, include a link to their site.

7. Let other Bloggers know they have been nominated.
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Well, I am not a good follower of rules, and hope no one will be too mad at me. I love all my followers (links are all in my sidebar) and feel each one deserves the awards I get, so I hope that any of you who would like to have it, will take it, from me! If you are not an awards type person, that is OK too! Anyway...let me know if you do decided to take the award, so I can be sure to come over to your blog to read the 7 things about you!!!

Here are 7 things about me:

1. I love visiting Orlando, Florida and going to all the attractions there, staying at beautiful hotels, and trying all of the different restaurants...whenever budget will allow...which isn't too often!

2. I hate house cleaning, and cooking.

3. I am a bare nails kind of girl...I rarely if ever have painted my nails, until I discovered this swirling thing a few weeks ago...and I doubt it will last because of my #4 thing about myself.

4. I have had asthma since childhood, and have discovered that I and polish remover do not do well together! I may have done my last (or near last) polish job!!! :(

5. I have a love of Beluga Whales, and most sea life. I cried at every turn at Sea World 2 days ago, just looking at these amazing creatures! I had to be pulled out of the Arctic area where my whales were...as I did not want to leave...

6. I wish I could retire now at age 55...if anyone can tell me how, I would appreciate the advice! :)

7. I love excellent carrot cake! BTW...if you are at Sea World, have a piece there...I believe it could be the best I've ever tasted! They have it in all the restaurants there, seems like. This is one thing I should try to make WELL! I need the worlds best carrot cake recipe if any one out there has it!

OK...that is it! Enjoy your award, ya'll!!! Thanks again, Debbie!
xoxo- Julie

Swirled nails in purple, green and white!

I did my friends nails in a red, white and blue swirl today for her family get-together, and they turned out really cute! She took a pic with her camera and I am having to wait to receive it...but will show you what I did to my own nails later this evening...it did take a while...I taped up all fingers on both hands (as you see in video in my previous post), and proceeded to dip each finger after they were all taped up. To do any clean up of polish afterward, to keep from messing up your newly swirled nails, you use Q-tips to clean up smears of paint that gets on your fingers. Using the Q-tip keeps the polish remover from getting on your nails. I did apply a clear top coat afterward. They still need more clean up around the edges, but overall, pretty cool. I just love how each one is unique. You can find a tutorial video in my last post, or HERE.
xoxo- Julie

Swirled fingernails and paper fun!

My daughter came upon videos of a really fun trick to try with fingernail painting. We tried it , and it really is a fun to try! Here is a video if you would like to have some swirled nails!

I tried my thumbs only, and here is a shot of one of them!

Ignore that bit of dark red paint on the tip of my nail, as I got that on there later when I began to do a similar technique on the surface of the water and placed index cards on top to make postcards! If you add some glittery or metallic polishes to the mix, it adds a lot to the finished product! Of course, if you go large scale, you can just buy larger cans of oil based paints to use...but for small projects, the fingernail polish works great!

These are a few inchies I cut out of index cards to try the process with, and when my 7 year old grandson saw them, he asked if he could take one to his teacher at summer camp! I ended up making him some postcard sized ones then. The inchies are adorable though...

I am definitely going to try some red, white and blue ones today! I will be back to show you the results!
Meanwhile here are some swirled ones for the holiday at "Flaunt Me, Because I've Got It", for you to check out!

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!
xoxo- Julie

Geckos and their eyes, and more, at the Ft. Lauderdale Science Museum!!!

Today daughter, grandkids and I went down to the Ft. Lauderdale Science Museum. It has really upscaled itself, with many new exhibits, and virtual rides to somewhere!

One exhibit that was fantastic...was all about Geckos! Here was a huge wall of different eyes, which were so colorful and fascinating, I just had to have a picture!

Here are some of the varieties they had on display. A sort of freakish group of creatures, but yet, so alluring, you just can't help but be amazed and mesmerized by their beauty!






The one below was shedding his outer skin, and appeared to be eating it. You can see some of the old skin still on the tail area. At the rate the skin was coming off, it looked like within another 10 minutes, it would have been all gone!

I wish I had had more time to read some of the information about them, but with a 3 and 7 year old, we were on the move! Hopefully they will be around there for the summer...because it will be a destination for us on a hot summer day, when we just need to be indoors!

The Ft. Lauderdale SM had a new otter display as well, and the kids indoor play area there is fabulous. They can climb a tree, climb up a house structure and build walls within it, play computer games, do water play, make huge bubbles, and run an orange farm.

The other thing that was really cool, was the virtual air buggy ride through the Everglades! It was 4D! We had wind in our faces, and got sprayed with water as we rode...very cool. Believe it or not, it was Emily (3 years old) who enjoyed it so much, she had to go twice! She's a trooper!

I highly recommend this great science museum, if you are ever in the area. There is also an IMAX theater attached, so you can take in a movie while there as well.