Home alone… but not lonely!

Today has been a quiet-stay-at-home-day for me. They’re getting more rare all the time! So far, I’ve accomplished laundry, framed & packed pictures to go in the mail, cut out angels, had breakfast & lunch, and am contemplating taking a nap. I’ve enjoyed the solitude, but I’ve been entertained a bit by a couple of our critters. Since there’s not much else exciting happening, I thought you might enjoy seeing the antics at my back door…

Oreo, our Jellicle Cat, playing “I Want In, I Want Out.”

This is her favorite game. Between innings and outings, she looks like this:

The game has taken a rather frantic turn the past few days, because Oreo tends to get a little nervous when things on her back porch change. The most recent change is that Mr. Stubbs, one of our roosters, has decided the back porch is a great place to hang out. And crow. (Stubbs has a deep, rich baritone crow.) He has found that if he crows loud enough and long enough I will find a bit of bread to toss out to him. I think he’d come in, if I left the door open!

The other night, he decided to bed down right next to the art room door…

Now THAT gives a whole new meaning to “grilled chicken!” Don’t worry… Hubby bundled him off to the hen house when we discovered him!

Even our dull moments aren’t dull around here. And so, I guess I’m headed for the couch to close my eyes for a few minutes.

As soon as I let the cat in.

P.S. Don’t forget to leave a comment on the last post for a chance to win a FREE PAPERCUTTING!

An “At Home Craft Fair”… and a FREEBIE!!!!

Hello folks! We’ve finished up the last of our Fall and Christmas shows, and have finally gotten the entire stock of papercuttings up on the website! There are several pages (5 total!) of papercuttings, from large to small, so if you’re in need of a last minute hand-made gift let us know! We figured this is sort of like a craft fair you don’t need to leave home for, so until Christmas we’re offering…

FREE SHIPPING FOR ORDERS $50 & OVER!

And, we have a special “Scratch & Dent” Bloggy Give-Away!  This sweet papercutting met with a framing accident… somehow our utility knife flew into the air, and landed “point down” on the edge of the mat that this was mounted on. It was really quite impressive. So, Hubby trimmed it a bit and made a frame that hides the little “ding” under the left edge. Or at least it almost hides it… you can see it if you turn the frame sideways and peek under the edge. So, we have another pretty piece to give away on the blog! If you’d like to be included in the drawing, just leave a comment on this post and make sure I have your e-mail! We’ll choose a winner on New Year’s Eve, to be announced on January 1st !

Harmony
10″ x 10″ Framed Size

We’re finishing up the last of our 2009 orders this week, and will be taking a much needed break until early in 2010! I might even get a chance to blog a bit more and visit with our internet friends… I’ve missed you all!

Thanksgiving and Expectation…

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Our family did, only life was a little too full to post about it until now! We had dinner here at our home, with family from both sides joining us… and LOTS of good things to eat. (That’s the beauty of inviting all the good cooks in your family!) I wanted to post a short list of things I’m thankful for, and this rainy Monday is just the time to do that…

I’m thankful for my husband and daughters and my son-in-love.

And my grandboys.

And for parents and grandparents
that raised me to love the Lord.

For my home and land.

For the creatures great and small that have lived here.

For a great big huge crazy fun family.

For Christian friends that encourage and edify.

For work and God’s provision.
(A Very Special Thanks to all our customers
who have supported us this year!)

And for my Saviour and the season of Advent
when we celebrate His birth!

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent… it sort of snuck up on me this year, since it fell on Thanksgiving weekend! However, even though the Advent wreath isn’t hung, and the candles haven’t been found, and the Christmas trimmings are still in the attic, and the first present hasn’t been wrapped, and all the other fluff and fun we humans have added along the way…

…even though all that…

…the Spirit of Christmas…

…of Expectation… of Hope…

…of Christ-like giving…

…is burning in our hearts.

Come Thou long expected Jesus, Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us; Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation, Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation, Joy of every longing heart.

P.S. If you get a chance… head over to American Folk Art!
The new “Holiday Cheer” theme was just updated today!

And keep an eye on our Currently For Sale page
as we add Christmas things!

Opening up a can of worms…

Kate brought a surprise home last night from her babysitting job…

I knew immediately that it was NOT smoked almonds…

It was my new pets. Their new home has been waiting for them since August, when I gathered up my birthday money to buy this condominium for them. It needed a final touch before they could get an occupancy permit…

Then we had to fill it with special bedding and a handful of dirt…

And then the girls could move in…

And begin enjoying their first meal… a baby spinach salad that had lingered in our fridge way past the “use by…” date…

And then we placed the roof on to let them get settled in…

Vermiculture in my artroom. A very quiet agricultural endeavor. My raised beds will be very happy come spring.

Thanks Brett, for collecting our new critters for us!

Creative Procrastination.

I have the Really Bad Habit of Creative Procrastination. That’s where you’re supposed to be doing something, (Or LOTS of somethings!) and something else more interesting comes along and sidetracks you a bit.

Like making homemade laundry soap when you’re supposed to be cleaning the house because company is coming.

Or organizing the spices in the cabinet when you should be painting picture frames.

Or sketching when you’re supposed to be cutting.

Or adding a new page to the blog when you have a bazillion orders to finish.

There’s not a whole lot there yet, but I needed a place to store some random ideas. So…..

This’ll Do

Sometimes you have to do some’ing
and be seen to do some’ing
and sometimes, just doing some’ing
makes some’ing  else ‘appen.

~Inspector Bucket, in Bleak House, by Charles Dickens~

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails…

… That’s what little boys are made of.

Guess who visited us this past week? Our daughter Jordan, her hubby Luke, and our two grandboys, Jackson and Derik!

Here they are sharing nicely!

Now who could resist mooching these sweet cheeks? We almost wore them out!

Or playing cars with this little guy? (And grabbing a kiss on the go!)

As you can tell, we had a grand week! We had tea parties (yes, little guys do like tea, especially if Oreo’s are involved!)…

and fed the chickens…

and the goat…

and washed and packed eggs…

and swang on swings…

and got sleepy…

… and took naps (I volunteered for nap duty… I think I wear out as quickly as the boys!)

and woke up the next morning to crow with the roosters!

My girl went home to California yesterday afternoon with all three of her guys, and it was quiet here this morning.

A little too quiet.

Abundance…

Goodness, it’s been a crazy fall! I just realized it’s been nearly a month since our last blog post! Falling down on the job, I guess! (Or maybe just too busy at the job to have anything in my brain besides schnibbles!)

Let’s just say we’ve had an abundant autumn… in more ways than one! Lots of work to do, lots of places to go, and lots of wonderful people to see. A “great plenty” of blessings! And we’re looking forward to a very wonderful November… our sweet daughter Jo, our son-in-love Luke, and our dear little Grandboys will be visiting! And then it’ll be Thanksgiving and Christmas before we know it! Time sure does fly, doesn’t it!

We’re moving right along with Fall things… I’ve been wandering through punkin’ patches…

…chasing after turkeys (we seem to have an abundance of “Turkeys” around here!)…

… planning a feast with the Pilgrims & Indians…

… and generally living life abundantly!

I am come that they might have life,
and that they might have it more abundantly.
~John 10:10~

And we’re headed to Smith’s Fort Plantation this weekend… see you there!

Join, or Die.

Hubby and I laughed while setting up our table at Mount Vernon… I told him it looked like “War and Peace.” Half of the pictures were peaceful… Lions & Lambs in peaceful kingdoms, Distelfinks standing on hearts that say “Peace,” and lots of gentle quotes and Bible verses. The other half was a stark contrast… a Patriot on horseback brandishing a sword, tea being tossed of a ship in the Boston Harbor, and Patrick Henry raising his clenched fist at tryanny. After a good chuckle at our attempts to make these themes fit on the same table, we decided Thistle Dew Mercantile is definitely well-rounded.

One of our newest silhouettes was inspired by the “war” side of our well-roundedness. Friday morning, as we were packing to leave, I had an idea. The kind that’s not always the best thing to have as you’re packing to leave, as ideas can often mean that we don’t leave quite on time. This idea was inspired by a political cartoon created by Ben Franklin and published in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754. Hubby was a good sport and gathered up framing supplies to take with us, as I worked feverishly on the pattern. I was just finishing cutting the first one as we went over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It’s a little different from most of our cuttings, since it’s in pieces, instead of all one piece. I think that’s the point of the cartoon. I had to be really careful not to lose the snake pieces with the AC blowing in the van!

And it was the first thing to sell on Saturday morning.

A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.
~Thomas Jefferson~

Home again, home again, jiggety jig!

We returned home today from Mount Vernon’s Colonial Crafts Fair, and had a wonderful weekend! The weather was much more cooperative than last weekend’s… not a single drop of rain! There were so many wonderful crafts, fun entertainment, talented musicians, and we especially enjoyed the Virginia hospitality!

When we pulled into the driveway, we were greeted by freshly washed clothes hanging on the line, a “Welcome Home!” note on the door, fresh flowers on the table, and new homemade curtains… Somebunny had been busy… and somehow managed to hide those curtains from me as she was sewing them! Thanks Kate!

And… tomorrow at noon, American Folk Art is updating it’s theme! Head on over there to see some pumpkin-inspired folk art!

Rain, Rain, Go Away…

Well, we’ve pretty much had a monsoon the last day or so. And lots of gray & drizzly before that. I don’t mind, really, because we’ve had plenty to do inside this week, and the store has been BUSY since we opened! But, Hay Creek was cancelled for today, so we’re leaving today instead of yesterday. (Which gave us more time to get more things in frames!)

We’ve had a grand time with our new fall designs… and just updated the Current Designs Page with a few things! Keep an eye there, as we add designs, and also on the Gallery. We’ll be moving a lot of designs over there, just so you can see them. It’s going to be pretty much impossible to keep a currently available list on the website for the next couple of months, but if you see something, we just might have it in stock… or we’ll be glad to make it for you if not!

Hope you all have a honey-drenched (instead of rain-soaked!) weekend!