A LITTLE ABOUT BRITTANY (BRAT)

MY BRAT, MY BRITTANY, IS A  FIRST YEAR TEACHER

AND COACH.

SHE WAS ON HER WAY TO SCHOOL

LAST WEDNESDAY, THE 9TH, 
AND BECAUSE OF THE ICY ROADS

SHE LOST CONTROL OF HER CAR.

SHE CROSSED OVER INTO THE ONCOMING TRAFFIC.

BUT, MOST OF YOU ALREADY KNOW THAT

BECAUSE THIS IS MY 3RD POST ABOUT BRAT

AND ABOUT THE ACCIDENT.

I THOUGHT I'D TELL YOU ABOUT SETTING UP

HER FIRST CLASSROOM LAST AUGUST

BECAUSE THAT WAS A REALLY FUN DAY.

WHILE SHE ORGANIZED

I DECORATED.

WHAT A SURPRISE.

ABOVE ARE PICTURES OF ONE OF THE

BULLETIN BOARDS.

BRAT STAMPED THE MUSLIN TRIM.

(I'D BE IN TOTAL DOO IF I DIDN'T MENTION THAT)

WE TOOK SOME OF THAT STAMPED MUSLIN TRIM

AND TAPED IT ANOTHER WALL

FOR THE ENGLISH THEMED BANNER TO HANG.

IT'S FLASHCARDS I MADE

WITH ENGLISH TERMS.

SHE TEACHES 9TH GRADE ENGLISH IN AUSTIN, TEXAS.

I COVERED THE FRONT BULLETIN BOARD

AND THEN (THIS IS OUR FAVORITE PART)

I USED MY SEWING MACHINE TO GATHER

BLACK CREPE PAPER FOR THE BORDER.

OH, YEAH.

THERE WAS THIS BIG  BLANK BACK WALL

THAT WAS SCREAMING FOR SOMETHING.....

SO I CREATED A BULLETIN BOARD.

WE'RE HOPING THAT THE SCHOOL

THINKS THERE'S ALWAYS BEEN ONE THERE.

THIS IS WILL, BRITTANY'S FIANCE -

HE WAS THERE MOST OF THE DAY.

HELPING.

HE PAINTED THE HONKIN' HUGE WALL

CHERRY RED, THE COLOR OF MY CONVERTIBLE.

IT LOOKED SO COOL.

FOLLOW MY LEAD....I. SIMPLY. ADORE. HIM.

HE IS AMAZING AND I'M GLAD

MY LITTLE GIRL IS MARRYING HIM.

DID I MENTION THAT HE'S A LOT OF FUN??..............

AND, HE PUTS UP WITH ME FAMOUSLY.

MEDICAL UPDATE ON BRAT:

She is healing.

After she gets her pain under control

and starts eating better,

she is going to be moved to a rehab facility.

She'll probably meet some famous athlete there.

She's different than me - she'll know who it is.

Will is still off shore but will be home in about 3 weeks.

And, this part makes me sooooo happy.............

TOMORROW I'M GOING TO THE HOSPITAL TO SEE HER.

I KNOW!!

I'm going to spend the night in her room and will come back

home on Tuesday. (Remember, my mom is still here:)

I'm just so excited to be able to go now

even for two days!

Then, when I get back from up north (mom has to go back 'til next time:)

I'll be all Brittany's!

That's after April 11th, but the time will go by quickly.

And, there's phone calls, text messages

(you should see me text - I'm lightning quick.),

emails.................

I'm so grateful that she's healing and that she's going to be alright.

I love her so much.

She really is my little girl.

In my heart.

In my soul.

I feel her.

EARRINGS, EARRINGS, LOOK WHO'S MAKING EARRINGS

Hi, y'all! Believe it or not I'm stepping up and posting the first two pairs of earrings that I've made.............. ever.............. before.................. posting them for the entire world to critique.

I think I've lost my mind. But, I decided a bit ago that I needed to get back into jewelry making.

I have made grunge pendants in the past, about three years ago, and some charms for an Art-n-Soul retreat (a swap) several years ago.

Then, this last fall, my BFF, Molly Alexander, asked me to be in a jewelry swap. Actually, she didn't mention the word "jewelry" until I had said that I would love to be in a swap! She knows me well - if she would have mentioned "jewelry" I would have run for the hills!

Once again, God paves the path he wants me to go down. I am now making jewelry again and have started with some earrings. It's only fair that I share them with you - when I get them perfect *which they're not yet*, I'll list them in my Etsy shop so y'all can fight over who is going to get to buy them.

This top pair I made because I just loved those square turqouise stones. They have a light brown border which makes them look vintage to me. And the round stones I did some wire wrapping. I used silver wire with a copper center that should 'tarnish' with time which will give the earrings more of a vintage look. I also made the ear wires myself. They need to be shaped a bit more so they're exactly alike. I'll get right on that.

This pair (above) was made with beautiful flat round black obsidian stones *they really are so gorgeous* and a clear red glass bead that I just love. In between those two pieces is a small Petosky stone which is the Michigan state stone. 

Really. Michigan has a state stone. Odd, but so cool, because when we were kids we would go to Lake Michigan with the "diddy bags" my mom had made all of us kids and we would walk the beach looking for Petosky stones. When they're shined up or under water they have the most amazing markings that you can see. (When I found these stones at the bead shop on sale I was so excited!) So, anyway, that's the smallish tan stone between the two larger stones.

I also made the ear wires - wire wrapping and all - do I rock or what? heehee

Thanks for taking a few minutes and reading about my new adventure.

If you want to leave some CONSTRUCTIVE critizism, I welcome it!!

Happy New Year, y'all!! I hope that 2010 turns out to be even better than 2009!

God bless you,

Jan

WE HAVE A WIN-E-E-E-R-R-R-R-R-R-R!!!

the VINTAGE APRON GIVEAWAY!

There's nothing more exciting than finding out who the winner is of one of my blog giveaways!
I almost get goosebumps. . .hoping, hoping, hoping that the winner is someone that really loves the giveaway.

And, I got my socks blessed off yesterday when the Random Picker-outer (my dear mum) pulled out STEPHANIE ZOLLER @ tatuedmomof4@aol.com!! When I read her post I knew the winner was someone that was going to treasure my precious vintage apron!

I have loved reading y'all's entries and knowing that I was giving away a treasured goodie that brought so many wonderful ladies to my blog to enter! Thank you for taking the time to be a part of my life - I so appreciate it.

The other giveaway on my blog is below and ends on April 10th so make sure you've entered it! It's a really good one, too!!

Thanks to my loyal readers for making me realize that writing my blog is blessing people. You know I love you!

XOXO,

. . .Jan

IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER FABULOUS GIVEAWAY!!

THIS GIVEAWAY ENDS ON MONDAY, APRIL 6th, 9:00 am CST

I may be really, really behind on my blog posting, but I'm sticking this post in the middle of catching up because I promised you that I would! AND AREN'T YOU EXCITED???
My second blog giveaway because my first one was so much fun!
And, look! Look at what I'm giving away!!!

Y-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-KES!!!

Check out this first photo - it shows the front of the apron which is made of a shear fabric that is patterned in a black floral pattern with SPARKLIES! And, the scalloped botton edge - oh, my gosh!
I have never seen such a stylin', precious, look at me, meet your husband at the front door with nothing else on, serve cocktails stylin', hang on your kitchen wall, stinkin' cute, PINK VINTAGE REVERSIBLE APRON in my entire life!!

Okay, so I *originally* bought it to sell in one of my shops, but as I was walking out of the antique store I thought to myself, "Jan! USE THE APRON FOR YOUR GIVEAWAY!!" and I was so excited about doing that!!

Now, if you'll look at the next photo you'll see the REVERSIBLE side of the apron!
Isn't this just the bomb???
It's pink satin with a pocket made out of the patterned fabric and is just as cute as it can be!!
The picture of this sweet young thing is my youngest son, Clay's, girlfriend, Stacey.
I had her model the apron because her wrinkles don't show.
Oh, wait.
She doesn't have any wrinkles. (Isn't she simply the cutest thing?? And, she's just as cute on the inside! I absolutely love her!)
The wooden spoon's mine.

And, here's a close-up of the reversed side of the apron.
OH, MY GOSH, are you as excited about this giveaway as I am??? Aughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

As you know, every good giveaway should have some sort of marketing scheme to grab those that enter who don't regularly read your blog. (I just made that up)
And, since I don't market myself harldly at all, I'm going to use these fabulous giveaways as a marketing tool once in a while starting TODAY because this apron was NOT on sale! LOL

You can enter the giveaway ONE TIME by simply leaving a comment on this post.

You can enter the giveaway TWO TIMES by joining my newsletter mailing list and mentioning that fact in your comment.
(sign in on the right side of my blog near the top - you really can't miss it:) And, don't worry
about getting 4,706 newsletters a week from me. . . .I've had the newsletter sign up box for
about a year and am just now thinking about putting out my first newsletter. hahaha, not
kidding!

You can enter the giveway THREE TIMES by going to one of my shops
(www.lollishops.com/polkadotbarn or http://www.jthom03.etsy.com/) and letting me know which of my pieces you like best (be honest - remember "marketing":)

You can also enter the fabulous giveaway FOUR TIMES by posting about it on YOUR blog and letting me know in your comment that you have done so.

Leave your comments here letting me know "how" you've entered, blah, blah, and be sure and leave me YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS so I can contact you when you win! (I've only had one other blog giveaway - I'm new at this - but, the winner of my first giveaway didn't leave me any way to contact her and it was, well, okay, I'll just say it, it was not a pleasure trying to find her. However, SHE is a pleasure!!)
*And leave your BLOG URL if you entered by posting about this amazing vintage pink apron giveaway on your blog* so I can check it out.*

I think we've just about covered it!
Oh, I'm so excited about this! This is much more fun than selling the apron!!
I love my readers!
And, I'm anxious to see all of you enter the giveaway so that you *might* win!!!
woooooooooooo hooooooooooooooo

xoxo,

. . .Jan