Glass Bubble Necklaces

Just a little sneak peak at the necklaces 

I dropped off at Scout Living yesterday.

These are fun little gems, 

with pieces of vintage dictionary pages or sheet music under glass.

These three almost anyone can wear,

who that would be reading this blog wouldn't be

perfect, original and charming?  

These are some of the sheet music ones, and I just love them.

a few more "specialized" ones . . . 

and these funky ones are one of my faves.

Short and sweet today, heading out on a business trip

(for my real job)

Everyone enjoy your week!

Affectionately, Miss. Worm

My favorite bag

Just about everywhere I go, my bag goes with me.  

I use it for all kinds of stuff.

Carrying all the stuff I don't want to carry in my purse, but really do need

Farmers Market

Grocery Store

Swim stuff

The little wool flower comes off for easy washing.

Oh, did I mention I just LOVE this bag.

I just love those old 50's tablecloths, 

and when I found a less than perfect one

I made my bag from it.  

It has pockets inside which I've used to keep small things in check,

or while grocery shopping, it keeps wine bottles safe from breaking

and also from crushing more fragile grocery items.

Looking for more things to bring down to Scout Living today,

I found this second bag.

Usually all my bags and pillows are unique and one of a kind,

but this time I had enough extra table cloth to make two,

so this "one of a two of a kind" is headed down to my space

at Scout Living this week.

I hope everyone is having a good week.

A good night to all!

affectionately, Miss. Worm

Yard Sale Freak

I’m a yard sale freak – I absolutely LOVE yard sale-ing!!!  

It’s a sure fire way to put a smile on my face and song in my heart.

The thrill of the hunt and the sweet taste of victory are just hard to beat.

It’s actually been weeks since I’ve been on a serious hunt,

and now that I’m paying for retail space to sell my finds in,

I’ve been feeling a little guilty for not going. 

I decided this weekend wouldn’t see much yard sale-ing

either because I’m STILL getting over being sick –

 it’s just taking me a long time to get back to feeling like myself again.

But when I woke up at 7:30 on Saturday, I decided to give it a shot.

Since it was already late, I decided to not look online for sales, 

or chart my route – just take a relaxing morning and see if 

I could come across 4 or 5 yard sales just driving around.  

Well, there were so many yard sales I could have shopped 

for weeks at the sales that were open on Saturday. 

I had a great, fun day finding all kinds of things

and building up my inventory.  I’ll show you some 

of the things that were my favorites.  

As I always say, one of the hardest things about doing this, 

is that I pretty much only buy things that I personally love.  

Sometimes I find things that might sell, 

but I pretty much just go for the things 

I really wouldn’t mind being stuck with if they don’t sell.

This week was no exception when I came across this adorable red train case.  

It was love at first sight, and I’m secretly hoping that it doesn’t sell.

It is in perfect condition not only out side, but a lovely red inside too!! 

How many things could I use this for?!? (besides traveling)

Then this sweet thermos set!  

  

Again, perfect condition!  

As thermos says, it keeps hot things hot, and cold things cold, 

(the manufacturers instructions are still in the bag)  

So I’m having visions of hot chocolate, coffee and

corn bread and heading up to the snow to go sliding,

or lemonade and tea and ham sandwiches 

for a perfect impromptu summer picnic.  

(one of my five year olds favorite things are picnics)

It’s hard to pass up a glorious stars & stripes flag,

or a vintage, foldable, wooden measuring stick that can be bent into endless shapes.

I actually played this flute last night, and I gotta say, it was pretty fun! 

I won’t quit my day job just yet, but if nothing else, it’s really pretty and would be cute decoration.

 

Just a hodge-podge of fun finds

Including this book of cigarette paper which I thought was really cute,  

and I just loved the detail on this frame

The sculpture needs a little t.l.c. but loads of potential

Block and tackle, which is not only interesting, but would make a really cute display piece

A lovely Roseville Pottery find

 

and lastly Jack. 

I know he’s not an antique, or not really even vintage

but a gumby Jack – seriously, who could pass that up?

Obviously not me.

So, most of these things will be making their way to Scout Living this week, 

and as I’ve already disclosed, I’m secretly hoping a few things won’t sell.

This is all so much fun for me, I just love finding these treasures 

and getting them all cleaned up and ready to be enjoyed.

It’s hard to believe this weekend is over – they always go so fast.  

I wish each of you a pleasant week ahead.

Affectionately,  Miss. Worm

Beaded Beauty

Just a preview of a few necklaces 

that are in my space at Scout Living.

 

These are all hand beaded and each one is completely unique.

No two are alike.

I like things like that - completely unique.

Just like each one of us, 

completely unique and beautiful in our own way.

A little scripture that I have been thinking about today:

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink;

or about your body, what you will wear.

Is not life more important than food, 

and the body more important than clothes? 

Look at the birds of the air; 

they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not much more valuable than they? 

Who of you by worrying 

can add a single hour to his life?

So, do not worry about tomorrow, 

for tomorrow will worry about itself. 

Each day has enough trouble of its own.

This year has had it's share of challenges - all in all it's been pretty difficult.  But I've been so blessed to reflect back on the past months and remember all the times that I could not see how I would make it through, or how I would pay my bills, or be a single mom all of a sudden, or find a good job.  In addition to this, I've had lot's of hard choices to make.  Choices that were not clear, easy or black and white.  Choices that I did not want to make.

I am happy to report though, that I have felt the presence of God in my life.  

He was constantly guiding,

constantly loving,

constantly supporting me,

constantly offering mercy and showering me with peace,

and constantly meeting my every need.  

Not only did He meet all my needs, He met so many wants, preferences and simple joys.  He's good like that.  Through all the difficulties of this year, my faith has grown in leaps and bounds.  I am so thankful for the beautiful, careful, attentive love of my Heavenly Father.

Good night to you all.

Affectionately,  Miss. Worm

Simple Splash of Color

Soooo, yes, I am alive - 

and no, I have not been kicking back relaxing 

since my darling daughter has been spending the summer with her Dad. 

 (I don't think I fully know how to kick back and relax)  :)

I have been catching up on some work at my "real" job,

 and helping a friend move, 

and helping aforementioned friend with some minor remodeling

 on house to be moved into. 

 Is scraping old "cottage cheese" off a ceiling 

and sanding the sheet rock considered minor?!? 

 I'm not sure.

Aaaanyway, I have been thinking about this sad little blog,

 and fully intended to return to it on Tuesday, when I got sick.  

Still sick, but I just did something noteworthy, so I thought I'd check in.

This is what my bed has looked like all week since I've been sick.  

(I know, I have no pride)

My little guest house has one bedroom 

which is occupied by my darling daughter, 

so my bedroom consists of my bed 

which is squeezed into this little corner 

next to the stove that heats this tiny place in the winter.

The wall has mostly been empty, until I made this wreath, 

to fill the space, only it looked a little too lonely 

so I moved it to a smaller space.

  Now, I've been dreaming of painting, 

but did I mention this little place is a rental?  

Then, I came across this great little find at Scout Living.  

I washed my sheets tonight and hung this map, 

and now I don't feel so compelled to break my rental agreement and paint.  

(ALL the walls are the same dreary tan)  

The dealer at Scout has more of these maps - different countries 

which say they are from the sixth grade class.  

So if you have a small area that you need a super quick change up in, 

this might do the trick.  

My "bedroom" feels so happy now. 

 Stay tuned, I know I need to make a bedskirt, and a real quilt.  

(I've had this down comfy for almost 20 years and love it, 

but it probably needs to be covered)  

I also have this idea floating around in my head 

for some super cute pillow shams.

Oh, and a little close up of my favorite little pillow,

(Loads of these winged pins at my booth in Scout Living. - 

I put them on everything!)

I'm going to bed now, maybe I'll wake up and not be sick anymore, please?

Anyhow, work in progress here as always.

Affectionately,  Miss. Worm

Photo Fun

Gifts can sometimes be challenging, especially guy gifts.  So when it's time for a gift for my dad, it's hard to find some material thing to give him to convey my love - that is, other than two jars of yummy olives from Corning, California which I picked up on the way back from my road trip to Canada.  (Thanks for your patience while I was away :)  )  My sentimental gift idea for awhile now has been memorable or special photos either made into a card, a book or simply by adding text to them.  

So this is what my Daddy received this week.  

(I left off the mushy hand written words on the back)

I've had a few conversations lately about photo editing and while I will proclaim loudly that I certainly am not the authority on this, I have had people ask how to do this.  So I decided that instead of going back and re-creating something, I'd make something new.  Also, on my dad's card I had used a photo editing program, and I wanted this post to cater to those of you (you know who you are) who just want to do something quick and simple, who don't have a photo editor and are not quite ready to try all the wonderful free ones you can take advantage of online.  I actually use this way a lot for quick cards, gift tags etc.

• Choose a picture from the library on your computer, or you can scan one to your computer as well.

• From the edit menu choose “copy”, and then open a word document and paste your  photo by choosing “paste” from the edit menu.

• From the insert menu choose “text box”.  A + sign will appear.  Click and drag it to give you a text box.  You can then click in this text box and type whatever text you want.

Now I have a Mac, so I’ll give you directions for a Mac.  

If you have a PC, just experiment a little, it’s very similar. 

• From the formatting palette, Ordering will come up under text box, once you have clicked on the text box.  Click on “arrange” and choose “in front of text.”

• Considering the colors on your photo, choose a text color that nicely contrasts and start typing.

• To make things fit, you may need to drag the margins of your text box, and be sure to experiment with different fonts as well as font sizes and colors.

Depending on your photo, you may consider cropping it.  On my dad's card, there were other children in the photo, and I chose to crop them out, since I was focusing on the relationship between my dad and I.  On this photo of my daughter I loved the vastness of the beach and the smallness of her so I left it un-cropped.

Once I printed the photo out (card stock works nicely) I decided that the words were hard to read, so I changed the the font to bold and it turned out much better.

This one's not actually a gift as they usually are.  This one is for me.  This photo was taken on the way to bring my daughter to stay with her dad for the summer.  We stopped in Oregon for two nights and spent some precious summer vacation time on the beach.  I wanted this one on my desk reminding me that for as much as I love her and care about her welfare, God cares more.  He delights in her, will always be with her to comfort her and quiet her with His love, and He even rejoices over her with singing!!  I had not known of this verse till it was pointed out to me by Emily.  If you click on twirl on her blog page it will take you to a beautiful posting she did about it.  "Twirl" by the way has become one of my new favorite words after reading her blog.

So, I am about to conclude my weekend by going to bed early.  I wish all of you a good week ahead. We'll chat again soon.

Affectionately, Miss. Worm

Special Beads

Hard to believe that my little one graduated from kindergarten yesterday.  

Yes, they actually "graduate" now-a-days with cap & gown and everything.

My darling daughter had picked out these round light pink beads

 for a bracelet a few weeks previous,

 but the night before I decided they would make a nice 

graduation gift that she could wear to her graduation.

    

so I paired them with these sweet orange beads 

which have imperfect spots of pink in them

and got busy making her a beaded bracelet.

I made it adjustable so that she won't grow out of it any time soon

by adding this little chain with a sweet little fob on the end.

finished project - the bracelet.

I do make custom styled jewelry when requested (I received an order today)

so contact me if you want a special order.

 So here she is on our way out to graduation

  

oh, is that a matching necklace?

yes, it is.    :)

Hey, I only have one child and she loved it.

I thought it looked so sweet on her.

 She was a very happy graduate

we saw lots of these smiles.

 

So, tonight I was at the pre-grand opening friends & family night

for the Scout Living.

Tomorrow, Saturday 5pm-9pm

is the Grand Opening!!

They are open every day 11am - 7pm, 

so this grand opening just stays open a little later

and sounds like it's going to be a fun little social time as well.

(I think I heard something about catered food)   :)

This is a beautiful store with a great diverse selection.  

There is really something for everyone.  

Come check it out!

affectionately,  Miss. Worm