In honor of mom...

 

"Mother's hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever..."

On this day of 

c e l e b r a t i n g  m o t h e r' s...

 I wanted to make a gratitude list to my momma.  

It's amazing when you think about how much influence 

a strong, dedicated, homemaking, independent raising, 

and loving woman can have on your life.

thank-you mom for teaching me...

to be independent,

to have a goal and persevere,

to use coupons and shop daily,

to cook and bake, 

to love your family with clean clothes, clean floors, and good home made food,

to paint, and paint, and paint,

to garden, 

to send cards (although timely would be better)

to paint, paint, and paint, again, (walls of course)

to love your children and support them in each and every one of their own ways,

to be active and not sit on a sofa for long,

to use bleach and not do too much laundry at home,

and most of all...

to love your children and your family unconditionally.

love you mom!

(and love all of my mom friends.. who know about the secret code of being a mom...)

(hint: it starts with L)

the kids love their nanny too!

Gifts... Giving & Receiving

And the winner is........ The lovely Jacqueline

Last week was a week of unexpected gifts. I found myself on the  

r e c e i v i n g  end of a few blog giveaways, 

while having a little giveaway of my own right here.

What an wonderful feeling to win something, 

let alone, from a couple of the blog spaces and artists

 that I admire.

(And right before Mother's Day- couldn't have timed it any better!)

On the other hand... what a  d e l i g h t  to be able to give a gift to someone else!!

Thank-you everyone who entered the giveaway.

I am continually amazed to find such sweet, supportive comments here. 

I am so grateful for the continued support and the time you all take 

to drop those seeds of encouragement.

It was hard to choose only one winner.. and so it is, 

that Jacqueline, a fellow flyer from Malaysia, 

will be receiving my little birdie house. 

Jacqueline has a lovely line of creations that she sews by hand. The words 

s w e e t,  l o v e l y,  w o n d e r f u l  a n d   m e r r y

are the embodiment of Jacqueline as well as her creations.

I'll be doing another birdie house giveaway in a couple of weeks-- stay tuned for details.

 

Little Birdie House

Below, was the blog giveaway that came from Jennifer at StudioJRU 

via her shop at DaySpring. 

I am an admirer of her work, and have been longing to purchase one of her pieces. 

I've looked and looked and couldn't decide. I love them all! 

So, I was fortunate to win one~ choice made! 

It came this week and was as fabulous as I was expecting it to be. 

Thank-you Jennifer, Deidra, Johnna, & Mandy. 

The lovely Jennifer 

Below is an art piece from a sweet blog written by Miranda. 

Her post at Easter, was most meaningful and inspired the painting, 

 I am going to be entrusted to care for.

Thank-you thank-you Miranda!

The lovely Miranda

And finally, these lovely handmade eggs, were a gift from 

Sheila of the CAST team on etsy. 

What an lovely group of people!

I am finding the connection to teams on etsy to be invaluable. 

I can't believe her handiwork- it's just beautiful! Thanks so much Sheila!

The lovely Sheila

By the middle of last week I was feeling like I should 

go to Las Vegas or buy lotto tickets. 

I've never won anything in my life, and here I had 3 lovely gifts in one week!

Gratitude to the max!!

In between all of the receiving and giving, I worked on a few new plate designs.

My favorite being...mom  l o v e 

...inspired by, thoughts of my children ~ 

 grown-up and getting more and more on their own ~

leaving the nest, and starting to fly ~

makes me very proud and happy with a smidge of sad, deep down inside.

And it is with "Mother's Day Love" that I leave you, 

with wishes for a joyful and happy celebration 

of all Mother's, on this very special Sunday!

Linking up to StudioJRU sneak peek fridays... 

Stop on by to see some fabulous creative blogs and other artist studio's.