Hometown Girl

strawberry fields forever

Every summer the kids make a "wish list" of things they want to do over vaction. Strawberry picking always makes the list, it's one of our many summer traditions. We spent a wonderful afternoon with my niece & sister-in-law picking strawberries under the sun. A little breeze made it the perfect day.  The farm where we pick had baby animals in a small barn on the property for the kids to visit. 

 

 

After picking we delivered a few quarts to our family & friends!

 

Nothing like a a bunch of strawberry stained hands :)

 

 

 

This is ONE of the kittens my sister-in-law and the kids is fostering for the SPCA. How cute is he?

I hope your week is off to as good a start as ours!

a trip to the indie market

We made a trip into the city today for the outdoor indie market. I knew the Josie from Auburn Studios would be there. I have been in touch with her through her blog Mr. Monkey Suit  but never met her in person. It was so nice to put a face to her name & her work! It was a perfect day to walk around the city and take in all the artisans as well as the sites. We even visited with our friends that live in the city, it was an afternoon well spent.

 

Here we are!

 

Josie's wonderful table of colorful goods! We went home with two traveling art shows for the boys, some buttons, a bookmark & a few goodies for me too :)  Thanks Josie!

 

 

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend! See you soon. ~Susan

wednesday's moon & thursday's finds

My husband called on his way home last night and told me to check out the moon, camera in hand I marched out after 9:30, here it is.

 

I got out to an estate sale this morning, my dad was kind enough to watch the kiddos for me! As I was walking up I saw Vicki from Hollyhocks! It was so nice to see her, it's been a long time. She looks wonderful! We met a couple of summers ago at an estate sale and keep in touch. Here are my goodies. Hopefully she'll post hers as well she found some great things too!

I found two sweet collars, some pretty trims, a pin, a stack of little envelopes, some boning for that corset I'm going to make someday, a fabric scrap with the little purple flowers & a bunch of millinery berries in green.

 

 

Hope you enjoy your weekend. Happy treasure hunting!

an unlikely project

The last day of school I was talking with one of my friends and she told me she was having another baby. I am so excited for her! I'm sill not over the wanting babies stage (although I think my age is) so anyone that has a baby or small child can probably see me coming from a mile away, they are just irresistible to me. I got to thinking it would be nice to make something for the little one who is due to arrive this winter. Even though I have lots of time & it's 85 degrees out, I found the perfect pattern from my kind & generous friend Karen's shop, The June Bride. I got them via e-mail that same day, I couldn't wait to get to Joann's & pick out some fleece.  

I didn't get to the booties yet but I made two hats in no time. I omitted the ears and added rosettes made from a strip of the fleece. The directions were clear, easy to follow and quick! Great little gift when you have little time! The patterns even include adult sizes. I made one 0-3 months, the other 1-4 years. I'm thinking I'll be giving these out as little gifts.

 

In other news, I finished the rosette order. I made a whole bunch of them for a girl who was going to use them to embellish albums for a shower.

 

Thanks for visiting! Hope you are enjoying your summer! ~ Susan

he loves me.........

...he loves me not. That's the first thing I think of when I see a Daisy. Did you do that when you were a little girl? I have fond memories of wandering barefoot in my grandparents yard plucking the petals off these little beauties. All grown up now, these sweet reminders of childhood were beckoning me to the yard with my camera in tow. I use a Canon Digital Rebel it's at least four years old but it's got the capability to take my pictures to another level. Armed with my manual I set out to try something new. I focused on the AV, Aperture value today. I took each of these photos adjusting the Aperture value. The larger the aperture (smaller number) the less focused the background is. The smaller the aperture (larger number) the more focused the background.

Larger aperture.

Smaller aperture.

I tried different settings to take these pictures of my peonies.  

These little wildflowers are growing aside one of our many trees. I used the Flower Mode on my camera to take this one.

Got any photography tips? Feel free to leave them in the comments. I look forward to learning something new. Hope you are all enjoying your Monday! Thanks for stopping by. ~ Susan

and the winner is.....and friday's finds

Using the random number generator at 9:00pm, number 11 is the winner of the Barnes & Noble gift card! I have to go see who it is myself...........it's Kasey from LolaB's! Hey Kasey, congrats!

 

I thought I'd also share my finds from today. I got a whole pile of vintage wrapping paper. Not sure exactly what I'll do with it but it was too cute to pass up & cheap, just $2 for all of it. I found two sweet pins, one has an "m" on it. I thought it could stand for Mom as well as any M' name. There were a lot of slips but this one was perfect, never worn and still had the tag on. I liked it because it's much shorter than the ones I have. I'll probably dye it and put it in the shop! The two tea towels I couldn't pass up either, the colors are gorgeous, maybe pillows? I also got a set of steak knives, seriously, we have like 2. I don't know where they go? My husband has been bugging me to buy some. I got a set of six for $7 and three of them were still wrapped in tissue in the box (Happy Father's Day, hon!) Sorry not in the picture they were already in the dishwasher.

 

I just wanted to say Thank you to Karen from The June Bride for doing a beautiful feature on my little shop. Have a great weekend! See you soon.

~Susan

twilight inspired etsy picks

 So most of you know I'm reading the Twilight saga. I just started the 4th book, Breaking Dawn last night. I'm going to try to savor this one a little longer since it's the last one. I did hear from my Twilight loving friends that the 5th book never made it to publication due to some type of illegal distribution and that it is posted online . I'm sure at some  point I'll read that as well. It won't be the same though, there is nothing like sitting with a great book in your hands.

So today I picked items from Etsy, my favortie shopping venue, that reminded me of Twilight. I'm not saying that this was the intention of the creator it is just my humble opinion. I hope you enjoy!

Gorgeous headband from Nanichan. I love the color combination of this piece.

 

Dress by 13bees. Beckons to another era like the one Edward came from.

 

Necklace by Allthosethrees. I loved the simplicity of this and it reminded me of something Edward would say to Bella.

I promise I'll get over this Twilight thing eventually! Don't forget to enter the giveaway for the Barnes & Noble gift card, drawing will be this Friday, June 19th! Here is the link to the comments section of the post. Please leave the title of your favorite book, I"m going to need something to read when I'm done :)  Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

weekend finds

I managed to make a couple of stops this weekend. Here are my treasures from the first, an estate sale. Some pretty wool trim (I don't have anything like this), several jewelry pieces, & a lace collar.

From the second stop, an outdoor market. Mother of pearl buttons, two other button cards. I really like the little brown ones they have a nice finish. I found some earrings, even a few singles which are perfect for my cuffs & a couple of keys. I also found this great little lock & key set. I think this will be super on a necklace.

 

Don't forget to enter the Barnes & Noble gift card giveaway, leave a comment on the previous post to enter. Thanks for visiting, see you soon!   ~Susan

twilight ~ i'm reading again & one year giveaway!

In the last few years I haven't read much. Mainly because there aren't enough hours in the day which I'm sure you can all relate to. I've been wanting to read Twilight for sometime now. I've had it in my hands a few times at Barnes & Noble but never bought it, still a little unsure if a story about vampires was something I could get into reading. So I put it on the back burner. Recently, I was talking to a friend from high school and we got to talking books, she asked if I read any in the series. Since she's my age and enjoyed them I thought I'd give the first one a go. I devoured it (hehe) and read some 500 pages in just about a day. Now my husband will tell you I didn't even cook, but rest assured I did! Then I read the 2nd, New Moon and I'm enjoying the 3rd book, Eclipse. Mind you this is all in about two weeks, not bad for someone who hasn't picked up a book in years. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed reading. I'm going to bed at night & reading instead of watching the tube. So in honor of my renewed love of reading here is my Twilight inspired collar, dark & romantic with an edge

 

Do you like to read? Well you're in luck! Enter for a chance to win a $25.00 gift card to Barnes & Noble. I'm celebrating my one year blog Anniversary! All you need to do is leave a comment here and include the title of your favorite book. Be sure to leave your email if you don't have a link. Winner to be picked on Friday, June 19th! Happy reading!
 

sneak peek

Here is a little peek at some new things to come to Paperhill.

 

Hope your week is going well. Thanks for stopping by. ~Susan