Breathing New Life into Old Treasures

While taking a stroll through cyberspace this week, something caught my eye and held my attention as it tickled my trash to treasure fetish.

Elena, of EP Designs based in Australia, wrote about what she did to breath new life into some old discarded gravy boats and a friend's well-used silver trinket box. Elena's store Timeless Treasures is hosted by BidMate.au.


I'm a decorative painter as well, but have never thought about painting some of my old, well-worn, silver plated pieces. So thanks Elena for getting that light bulb to go off in my head. The article that inspired me is entitled: "Created With Love" and can be found on Elena's Blog.

Not only did her article fan my passion for transforming trash into treasure, it also introduced me to something called "Pink Saturday". Now being a tomboy at heart, and not much of a girly girl, the color pink isn't usually something that captures my interest. However, what Beverly, author of the blog How Sweet the Sound, started on June 6, 2008 has caught on and spread like a wild fire among fellow bloggers. "So Just What is Pink Saturday" describes how Pink Saturday got started, and "Let's Talk About Pink Saturday" is an update on the goals and rules of engagement.

If you're a blogger, you may want to look into this. This past Saturday, 157 bloggers participated. There were six new participants this week, so it's not too late to jump on the bandwagon. Even if you decide not to participate by posting something pink on Saturday, visiting the blogs of those who do and seeing some of their "Pinks" is a hoot. So, have fun poking around. It's so much more entertaining than most of what's on TV these days. I even saw a photo of a live pink poodle. (I suspect the photo was altered digitally, but maybe not.)

Enjoy!


Photo Courtesy:

Top and Middle Left: Elena of EP Designs

Botton Right: Beverly of How Sweet the Sound

Honoring American Women and Being Honored

Mary Anne Gruen, of Startlight Blog, blew me away twice today. The first time was with her July 4th post (which I just read yesterday) about four American Heroines I had never heard of before. And the second time was when I discovered that Mary Anne had bestowed upon me (for my blog) the Neno's Award.

Most importantly, I hope you'll visit her blog and read In Honor of July 4th. It's an enlightening article about the impact four women had on our developing country--these were four women I had never heard of before: Sybil Ludington, Deborah Sampson (alias Robert Shurtliff), Nancy Hart, and Phillis Wheatley. Reading a short recap of these women's stories reminded me that no matter whether we are men or women, slave or free, young or old, we all have a contribution to make and a chance to leave our mark on the world.

Secondly, I admit that I'm better at tooting someone else's horn than tooting my own. So it was a very pleasant surprise to discover I had been given the Neno's Award by Mary Anne. I was both honored and humbled when she recognized me as a "team player who's always looking to support other artists." It's so empowering and uplifting to be recognized for who I am, and not just the quality of my stained glass and decorative folk painting. So thank you, Mary Anne. You made my day!

The Neno's Award was originally created by Retno Sofyaniek from Denpasar, Indonesia and first distributed to her exchange-links on March 16, 2009. Retno, who goes by her childhood knick name Neno, did a search for "Neno's Award" just for curiosity sake on May 2 and was totally amazed to find out that in those 6 weeks thousands of bloggers had received and posted the award. Neno is an English teacher working for an educational company in Kuta and the name of her blog is "I Can't Stop Smiling All the Time".

Neno initiated this award as a way to recognize and applaud those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through blogging. She also wanted the receipients to share why they enjoy blogging. These were the "rules" she suggested for the receipients of the award.
• Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it.
• Don’t forget to mention the person who gives you the award.
• Answer the award’s question by writing the reason why you love blogging.
• Tag and distribute the award to as many people as you like.
• Don’t forget to notify the award receivers and put their links in your post.

What amazes me the most about this award, is that when I searched "Neno Award" there were 358,000 results, yet it has morphed very little. The "rules" cited by Mary Anne asks that the reciepient includes links to the person's blog who game them the award as well as links to the blogs they are recognizing witht he award in their post about the award. And the new stipulation is that one nominates 5 fellow bloggers to receive the award instead of leaving it up to the receipient.

I don't think it's important to follow the specifics of the rules, but rather to remain in the spirit of the award's creator. So with that in mind, I'd like to nominate the following:

Military Spouse Web for their tireless efforts in promoting and supporting the businesses run by military service members' spouses. It's a noble patriotic thing to do and a great way to recognize the sacrifices made by the spouses and families of our soldiers. Thank you.

TeriB of S & T Creations for her openness and eagerness in sharing her expertise through several on line venues. I often catch myself wondering if she ever sleeps.

Arlene of Spirit Essence Art for her creative enthusiasm and her willingness to spur us all on by sharing both her struggles and her successes in living an artist's life. A stop by her blog always leaves me inspired.

And lastly, I should mention why I like to blog...it's simply I love to write, I love to connect people with other people, and I love to reflect on life. Blogging lets me do all three at once.

Military Musings

Once a military wife, always a military wife! And as a (retired) military wife I enjoyed reading the musings of Amanda, author and owner of the blog: Confessions from Household6. As soon as I read her subtitle, "life from my quarters to yours" I felt a connection. (For those of you that aren't military, our "quarters" are our homes especially when living on base in military housing.)

I don't know Amanda personally, but many of her stories made me smile as I reminisced about the good ole days when our kids were still living at home, and our life was full of moves, TDY's (involuntary separations due to Temporary Duty assignments), and ways to have fun without spending much money like BYO (Bring Your Own) meat BBQ's and neighborhood street parties.

Even though, because of PCS' (Permanent Change of Station), friends came and went as if through a revolving door, the friendships we made with other military families have lasted through the years and long absences just make the cherished reconnections by phone, email, facebook, and real life visits all the more precious.

If you'd like a glimpse into military family life that's told with a sense of humor, and yet smacks of a reality show, you might want to grab a cup of tea, stop by her blog, and settle down for a good read. But if you only have time for a quicky, I suggest her one (1) paragraph story entitled "Busted". Amada is a creative and disciplined blogger who takes her digital scrapbooking seriously and posts a new article virtually everyday.

Families of our military also deserve our thanks and our support. You can give her a boost, by leaving a comment under one of her blog posts. As a fellow blogger, I can tell you that it's always nice to know that someone read what you spent time writing. And, if Amanda ever turns her musings into a book, you can say you were reading her stories even before she became famous.

And speaking of supporting the families of our military... The next time you are in need of a present for a special occassion consider buying something handmade from a Homefront Artist. Homefront is a support community for the artistically talented military spouses of active duty, reservist, or retired United States Service members who are selling their artwork on Etsy, Artfire, or 1000 Markets.

I'm a member of the Etsy Homefront Street Team and our motto is: "We keep the homefires burning for our uniformed service members worldwide." To learn more about this group of artists, visit their blog by clicking here.

When you make a purchase from a member of Homefront, you are supporting a military spouse. Most Homefront Etsy artists have tagged their items with the words "Homefront Team" in order to facilitate a search for their items. However, the quickest and easiest way is to just click on one of the buttons below.

To Shop for Homefront Artists on Etsy.com

To Shop for Homefront Artists on ArtFire.com

To Shop for Homefront Artists on 1000 Markets.com

And, if you know of another Homefront group, please leave their link in the comments below.