Sharing on Rednesday...

How's this for some RED? I made a trip again over to The Spring Boutique thrift store here in Tampa. The proceeds from sales go towards supporting Domestic Violence Prevention and an Emergency Shelter Agency.  I had seen this bag when I was there the last time. Remember that wonderful Kathy Van Zeeland tote that I got for such a deal? I went back to see if the bag was still there and sure enough it was. So....I bought it. When I got home I did a little research online and found this description of my new bag.

"Offered here is this nice Bath & Body Works red satchel/bag. Simulated leather, red faux snakeskin pattern, it measures 18 1/4" long x 10 1/2" wide x 14 1/4" tall. It has 2 small handles, zippered pocket to interior, long detachable strap and zippered top closure. Original price tag of $75.00 still attached."

The bag is really big....kind of like an overnite carry on size. Trust me....I didn't pay $75 for it. When I arrived in the store I was told that anything with a "dot sticker" was half off. Guess who's Red bag had a sticker on it? Yepper...this puppy was marked $24.99 but no that is not what I paid. I am the proud owner of this Red bag for $12.50!
Please join me and all of the other bloggers who are sharing their Red on Rednesday over at "It's a Very Cherry World" with Sue.

ME Monday.....

It's time, again, for Mary Engelbreit Monday!

Welcome and please join us and post the link to your blog with the related Mary Engelbreit pictures to share with everyone. It can be a ME licensed product or something that was "inspired" by Mary Engelbreit's artwork. It "should" be a photo that you took of something that you own. We're flexible here....let's have fun above all else.

Click to Photo to Enlarge

Here are some "jewelry" ideas that I've been working on this weekend. On the side panel of my blog you'll see a button for "Creative Chicks". There's a group of people getting together in mid Sept. to share their creative side via a link of blogs. The first day is about creating with ole Mod Podge. I've bought a million of these little ME scrapbook card board pieces with the idea that I would do something "jewelryish" (new word) with them. First I coated them front and back with the Mod Podge so that the resin would not bleed the colors. Saturday the resin that I had ordered came in the mail and I got to play with it. Cool stuff and it's easy to work with. The pieces with the asterick have been coated with resin.

You can see the reflection and magnification of the three pieces to the left. The three pieces on the right have not had the resin applied to them, yet. I used a Sharpie pen to put my name on the oval piece with the thought that I will wear this as my "badge" when I attend Networking events.

In this photo you can see the "doming" of the resin on the three pieces that have been coated. I'm waiting on some findings to arrive so that I can create pendants and pins with the finished pieces. I need to have this completed in time to share with the "Creative Chicks".

Once you've posted your pictures come back and add your link in Linky Tools below. Please share the link back to my blog so that everyone can take part in sharing their post nd pictures.

Another Silly Saturday Share.....

Squash
Originally uploaded by meggypeggy

This isn't my cat, my house, or my picture but I thought it was so funny that I had to share it with everyone. It's one of my favorites on Flickr.

Things I Love Thursday ~ Cherries

1. Hand Appliqued Cherries, 2. bowl-of-cherries-apron, 3. Ice Cream Cookies, 4. Marc Jacobs - Cherry Watch, 5. Checked Cherry, 6. Little Cherries Vintage Baby Blanket - Personalzied Baby Blanket

I participate in a group on Flickr where we share mosaic pictures on Thursday of Things We Love. This week I have made a collage of cherry photos from a number of members. Check out the group TILT on Flickr.com to see the collections of other members.

Sharing my Red for Rednesday.....

This is my Red for Rednesday this week. I found this "deal" recently at a thrift store called The Spring Boutique here in Tampa. The proceeds from sales  go towards supporting Domestic Violence Prevention and an Emergency Shelter Agency.  The bag appears to be brand new and it caught my eye because of it's Red color that's perfect for a "Cherry Chick". I did a little research online looking for the name that was in the tote. I'd never heard of Kathy Van Zeeland but it seems she is a well known designer. Long story short, I finally found a listing on Ebay for the exact same bag. The starting bid is $79.99 or a Buy it Now prices of $88.99 + $14.99 for shipping. How much did I pay for mine you ask??

It was $19.95 + 20% off but I said I didn't need the discount since it was for a good cause. I felt even better about my "deal" once I found out how much of a "deal" it was. Yahoo!

Please join me and all of the other bloggers who are sharing their Red on Rednesday over at "It's a Very Cherry World" with Sue.

The Birthday Boy.....

Thirty eight years ago today I became a Mom to this darling little boy.

Sorry, ladies, but this is the only recent picture that I have of him. There is a little gray in that hair. None in mine, of course! Don't worry about him being embarassed about having his pictures posted on my blog. He never reads my blog....but I did post these pictures along with a few others on his  Facebook page yesterday.  He finally told asked me to stop but his friends thought it was a fun idea...lol.  We'll be getting together for lunch today to celebate his birthday.

Love you "baby boy"....Your mama

M E Monday.......

Mary Engelbreit Monday!

Welcome and please join us and post the link to your blog with the related Mary Engelbreit pictures to share with everyone. It can be a ME licensed product or something that was "inspired" by Mary Engelbreit's artwork. It "should" be a photo that you took of something that you own. We're flexible here....let's have fun above all else.

Once you've posted your picture come back and add your link in McLinky below. Please share the link back to my blog so that everyone can take part in sharing their post nd pictures.

 

I've always liked my Mary Engelbreit letters and yes "C" is my favorite.

Sweet Bee Cottage is having a wonderful ME-a-palooza giveway for the next couple of weeks so make sure you pop over there to join her "200 post" celebration.

Vintage Cherry Shop

I recently opened up a new shop on Etsy.com that I'm calling "Vintage Cherry Shop". I have a few unique Vintage and Antique pieces of jewelry to share with you. There are some semi precious stone pieces but mostly Rhinestones and Crystal Vintage jewels.

I will confess to being no expert on Vintage Jewelry but I'm always grateful for any information that you might have to share on my pieces. I will happily provide as much information as I can on each.
This is a joint project with my lovely neighbor and friend, Paddy. She is the one who has been the collector of all these amazing Vintage pieces of jewely and I'm the one with the technology skills. We have paired up to create this little ecommerce business to use for what we call our "Tea Money"..lol.
We like to try out new tea rooms around town. The more we sell the more local tea rooms we get to support. Please check out "Vintage Cherry" when you have a few minutes to browse.

I'll be working on posting some more pieces this weekend to the shop. Thanks for taking a look.

She really, really needed it.........

As most of you who read my blog know, I design jewelry and sell it on my websites, my Artfire.com shop and my Etsy.com shop. A lot of my pieces have a "whimsical" flavor to them and I'm inspired by the artwork of Mary Engelbreit. A little over a week ago I got an email from "Pam" who wrote "I LOVE the fried egg flower watch you posted on ME Inspires me on Facebook and I really really need it!" Now tell me...how could I resist a plea like that? I wrote her back that if she "really, really needed it" I would be happy to make her one. She, also, wrote me in that email that she was an "avid ME fan". Well...that sealed the deal cuz anyone who is a fan of Ms. ME is a friend of mine. Pam wrote that she was a miniaturist, too. Hummm?? That might be a deal breaker...I've never known a "miniaturist" before. But then I went to the link that she sent me where I found her Oh So Cute little Mary Engelbreit dollhouse. That's how I found out about all of her fabulous little miniature creations. I told her that I would HAVE to share her work with everyone on my blog and she gave me her permission to use her photographs.

Miniature ME Lunch Box Scene

The scene above was created in a 7.5" x 6" tin lunch box. As Pam explained it to me, she works in "scales" of 1 inch and 1/4 inch. This means that 1" = 1 ft. or 1/4" = 1 ft. so you can just imagine how tiny her work is. I was just amazed as I looked at each of her creations.

Click to Enlarge picture

You'll need to enlarge this little photo to see the details of the exterior and interior part of the house that she created in a ME recipe box...that's right....a recipe box. There is a little cat standing on the stool in the kitchen working on a laptop computer..too cute!

Click to Enlarge Picture

This little ME suitcase measures 11" x 7 1/4" but it holds the little miniature ME house with an outside sitting area.

Pam's Clocks or Room Boxes

Pam sells her clocks and room boxes over on her website. She moderates a Yahoo group for miniaturist and teaches others  how to create these wonderful little works of art. Please stop over and see more of her work on her website.

A big Thank You to Pam Junk for allowing me to share her ME Inspired creations.

Bright Decor with Engelbreit Style.......

I could live here....happily ever after.

I just came across this article published online back in June 2010 in the Orange County Registery. A story about a how a woman was "inspired" to decorate her house in Mary "Englebreit" style. Obviously, the writer of the story did not  know how Mary spells her name...sheesh.

There's a lot more pictures over at the article. I love how she had her wood floor in the kitchen painted to look like it was a rug and the tile behind the stove was painted, too.

Things I Love Thursday....Glass Lampwork Beads..

1. heart-mary1a, 2. Kashmir, 3. Bohemian, 4. tulip tease

I'm sharing my TILT from over on my Flickr page. You should click over and see all of the wonderful Mosaics that this Group shares each Thursday. It has to be someone elses photos that you love.  I Love these darling artisan crafted glass lampwork beads.

Mary Engelbreit Motherload....

My name is Cherry Chick and I am a Mary Engelbreit Addict

But in my own defense, it was all Michaels fault. When they put her stuff on sale for 60 - 70% off what is a Cherry Chick to do? I was able to get all of this for $15.55 + tax. I mean, that's less than $1 per item. I got 16 ME things for for $15.55! Six fabulous tins for storing stuff like beads, two styles of placemats, napkins, two styles of placecards, a plate, two mini yard stix, a little pail for more beads, and chipboard cherry letters just cause they are too cute!

There I was walking through the store this afternoon minding my own business and I see the sign! 60% off! What's a Cherry Chick to do? It's not all for just me...I can picture some sort of giveaway in my blogging future. I have friends who are additcted to love Mary's stuff, too. They like gifts from me.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Please join me and all of the other bloggers who are sharing their Red on Rednesday over at "It's a Very Cherry World" with Sue.

M.E. Monday

Welcome and please join us and post the link to your blog with the related Mary Engelbreit pictures to share with everyone. It can be a ME licensed product or something that was "inspired" by Mary Engelbreit's artwork. It "should" be a photo that you took of something that you own. We're flexible here....let's have fun above all else.

Once you've posted your picture come back and add your link in McLinky below. Please share the link back to my blog so that everyone can take part in sharing their post and pictures.

Mary Engelbreit Handpainted Glassware

About a million years ago, when I was a manufacturer's rep in the gift/stationery industry, I would travel to Atlanta at least twice a year to attend Gift Shows at the Atlanta Merchandise Mart. Back in the day it was always fun but extremely tiring. Lots of walking and standing and then everyone went out to socialize in the evenings after a long day.  Back in those same days, there was a Mary Engelbreit company store in Alpharetta, GA which is somewhat close to Atlanta. It was probably the closet I was ever going to come to a Mary Engelbreit store. I remember one year when I had gone up for the gift show in July, I went to Dollar Rental Car to rent a car to drive to Alpharetta. At that time you could rent a car by the hour which was much less costly than taking a cab out to where the store was located. This was way before GPS days, I'd never driven in Atlanta before, and they have horrible Interstate traffic there. But I mapped out my journey, made my way to the ME Store and made it back to the Merchandise Mart all within a couple of hours. The glass that is pictured above is one of the things that I bought while in the store. They had a number of handpainted items that I think were unique to the stores at the time. It's my favorite glass, I use it all of the time and I think that it has held up pretty well over the many years since I purchased it. I have some photos that I took from outside the store but back then they didn't have digital cameras so I'm not able to share them here. I don't remember a lot about the trip by I do know that my Misson was achieved. I had been to a Mary Englebreit store!
 

Bead Tins

The little coffee tins covered with ME Con-tact paper pictured above where given to me this week. I'm on a Misson to find some of this Con-tact paper so if anyone sees it anywhere I will be eternally grateful to you if you would let me know.  They look ever so cute sitting on my work table and will help keep my beads and stuff organized. Plus....they were FREE and we like free.

It's "Feature Yourself Friday"!

,

 Who else better to toot your horn than "Yourself"...LOL. I just found this cute Linky party for Friday that I'm sharing with everyone today. I'm like # 2,000 down on the list so there's plenty of eye candy to look at. You had no plans for Friday night....right?

I recently beaded up these little Pink "butterfly" earrings to go with my previously posted Pink Butterfly Bracelet. Now there is a Matching Set...What a "Fashionista" you would be with this duo. I have them in my Artfire shop along with the bracelet. Other color combos available on request.

Yahoo! Fifty!

Awesome News!

As of today I now have "50" Peeps (a.k.a Follwers). Does anyone remember that skit on Saturday Night Live where Molly Shannon plays Sally O'Malley? She auditions with the Rockettes and keeps yelling "I'm 50!" I always think of her when I hear that number. So I'm celebrating my "50" milestone with everyone. I couldn't have done it without you...lol. It was only July 1st when I celebrated "21" Peeps.

Here's the video of the show....sorry but there's a little Geico commercial before she comes on but it's worth that wait.

Rednesday....Show your RED!

Please join Sue and all the other bloggers over at "It's A Very Cherry World" to see what RED they have to share for "Rednesday".

My sweet friend Ms. Christina gave me this Charming Cherry Clock when I was down to visit her a couple of weeks ago in Ft. Myers. I think she saw me drooling while looking at it. All it needed was a new $5 battery and she's good to go. I have her sitting in my kitchen. I Love it and I knew that it would be perfect for Rednesday.

Warning....no fluids in your mouth before viewing this photo.....

NanE wrote me this morning that she almost spit her tea all over her computer when she saw the cat picture I shared on Saturday. So I thought I would give you a little warning this time. This is another LOL Cat picture that cracked me up and made me heartsick for my dear Rusty. Hopefully, everyone knows what a Segway is or you totally won't get the picture.

ME Monday....

Thanks for stopping by today. I'm joining Chari over at "Happy To Design" who is hosting Sunday Favorites. This Sunday I'm sharing a post from the past that has been the "most viewed" post over the 3 years that I have been blogging. I have no clue why either. Enjoy!

Time to share your Mary Engelbreit

Please join us and post the link to your blog with the related Mary Engelbreit pictures to share with everyone. It can be a ME licensed product or something that was "inspired" by Mary Engelbreit's artwork. It "should" be a photo that you took of something that you own. We're flexible here....let's have fun above all else.

Once you've posted your picture come back and add your link in McLinky below. Please share the link back to my blog so that everyone can take part in sharing their post and pictures.

I have One ME recipe card holder

I have Two ME snow globes

I have Three ME money banks

It must be my mood this Saturday...

Originally uploaded by Kevin Steele

I really think the LOL Cats are some of the funniest things. But then I tend to have a weird sense of humor.

Things I Love Thursday...

I truly love fuschias. I so enjoy all the color variations and sizes. When I lived in California I was able to grow and enjoy them. I, however, have had no success with them here in Florida. I think it's just too hot for them here. If I lived in cooler weather I would have tons of beautiful fuschia plants. There are so many to choose from. Please enjoy this collection of photographs from contributors on Flickr.com

I Saw Them....I Wanted Them....I Found Them....I Bought Them!

Thank you to Sweet Sue for hosting us this week from "It's a Very Cherry World"

Click Picture to Enlarge

I'm rushing like a crazy woman because Sue already has the link for "Rednesday' up on her blog and I just finished taking my pictures.
No laughing please.....this is my first attempt at a semi, kinda like, Tablescape. The trouble is I don't really have a dining room table. What was a dining room table has become my work table. So to get this picture I had to pick up poor Missy and her cat bed and move her away from the window where I thought there would be decent light to take this photograph. I had to select a piece of my "many" cherry print fabrics, iron it, and assemble this all together. Even now I notice the "stuff" behind the plate...lol. Oh well!
Sooo...to make a long story even longer....a couple of weeks ago I saw someone linked up to Rednesday who had the most darling red cherry colander and these cherry measuring cups. I soooo wanted them. I immediately Google searched every combination of words to find them but I was not successful. I sent pictures to my neighbor, Paddy, and asked her to be on the look out for them, too. I just knew I "needed" them. I showed them to Ms. Christina in Ft. Myers who has the cherry kitchen. She had never seen them either...ugh!
The BF tells me all the time that I should work for the FBI. I always seem to figure out what he is up to with minimal information...lol! Anywhooooo.....today I was running errands and I stopped into Pier 1 Imports....I seldom go in there...prices are high...on my way to "Tar-Jay". Well...I'm strolling around looking at stuff thinking that I'm getting some walking (exercise) in, when out of the corner of my eye I spy the Cherry colander and then the Cherry measuring cups and THEN the Cherry measuring spoons. You would have thought that it was the second coming of Christ! I was SO thrilled! I found them! I found them! A big gulp and I flip stuff over to check the prices. The sensible side of me decided that while I LOVE the Cherry colander, I can live without it. It's $18 but I later found it in the store on sale right now for $14.99. The Cherry measuring cups were $15 but I had to have them. They are now MINE! Happy Dance! I don't recall what the Cherry measuring spoons are going for but until they go on sale I probably won't be owning them either. Plus I just found the cute little silver Cherry measuring spoons for Joann's for $1. 
So to Pier 1 Imports...if you need any help with your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) please get in touch with me. Once I got home I found the "Red Colander" on their website. It's linked from my Facebook page if you want to see it.