Halloween Happenings!

I finally have a few new things to show you all!

All three of these are newly listed in my Rock River Stitches Etsy Shop right now!

And then I have something brand new!!!

Here's my Primitive Altered Art Book! If I had to stop making primitive stuff I would jump into the Altered Art world full time. So much fun!! I added a little prim to this book with my little flying bat coming out of the pages. This I will be listing tonight!!!

And in other news I'm having a 20% off Labor Day sale in my Red Oak Images etsy shop! When you purchase and checkout, please enter the Coupon Code: LABORDAYSALE and a 20% discount will be taken off your total. If you see something you like and it's sold out, please send me a convo and I'll be happy to make a custom listing for you at the discounted price. Sale runs from today thru Sept. 9th.

This pink rose photo I took with my olloclip on my iphone. You probably would have never guessed it was a miniature rose if I hadn't told you...right? I will be turning this into a photo pendant for sure!

Ok I need to get back to work on various things!!
Happy Labor Day! Have a safe one!!!

Red Barn Sale Today!

I missed the Primitive Red Barn Sale last month because daughter and family were here and forgot all about it. But made it today. I picked up a few things.

I know it's not a whole lot. But I needed more of those spindles to make more of my big crow make do's. The bobbins will be used for make do's as well. And I fell in love with the little red chair. Will be great for my prim dolls to sit on. The rusty sad iron is for my sister in law who loves to paint them. 

Those metal tins with the flowers in them I bought at the Red Barn Sale back in June. They are working out great for my moss rose and wave petunia's.

The little picnic table, my hubby made for my girls when they were little, about 25 years ago. I will never get rid of that. Now my grandchildren sit at it.

Vicky and Tim from Red Barn Primitives have started a page on Facebook. Be sure to Like them and follow their updates.

https://www.facebook.com/RedBarnPrimitives

They have a sale once a month on a Saturday towards the end of the month. It runs, I believe April through October. Here is the ad in the newspaper for today's sale. You will be in Primitive heaven when you visit their sale!!

Sales: Yard/Garage Sales

MILAN RED BARN SALE 4804 85th Ave. W. Milan, IL (1/2-mile behind PFG/TPC) Saturday only 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. We have a fresh selection of primitives & collectibles. Goat cart, buggy seat, pumps, dough bowls, stepback cupboard, ornamental windmill, wash tubs, benches, 40 gallon crock, boxes, camelback trunk, scale with brass tray, millstones, dry sink, harvest table, and much more! PICK US! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

Snowmen make do's almost finished!!! They just need face's and hats! Making some prim trees to go along with them. Hope to have them finished soon! I'll post here when they are ready!

The Holidays are Upon Us!

Yes....Before you know it, it will be Halloween! The days and weeks just speed by. I've been busy making pumpkins and snowmen. I've had several requests for snowmen already! Also pattern sales are booming! It always does the end of July and August. My best months for patterns.

I listed these primitive pumpkins last week in my Etsy Shop. Always love making these with a pattern by Vicki Bilek of Tickled Primitive.  

And I have this sweet little Primitive Napping Kitty Pincushion newly listed in my etsy shop as well, which is my own original pattern.

Then in my other Etsy Shop, Red Oak Images I have a new line of earrings made with my photo art!

And here are a few of my primitive pendants in my shop.

Here are few of my newest photos! Enjoy!

Sunflowers

Yesterday captured these adorable black squirrels playing under the oak tree! They seemed to freeze when they saw me! LOL

And finally got a shot of a hummer on the Canna's!

The other morning when I was taking pictures of the hummingbirds, this little chickadee decided to take a little morning nap. It' stayed like that for about 5 minutes. You can see it's little black head tucked under it's wing. Never seen anything like this before. 

Sweet little male hummer

Sweet dove sunny herself. Love!

OK...that's it for now. Everyone have a wonderful Sunday!

Where has the Summer Gone!

Here it is August already! The kids in our area have gone back to school. They have year round school, that they started when my daughters were in middle and high school. Loved the schedule. They are now all grown up, 27 and 29 years old.

A couple of weeks ago my daughter and her family visited us for 4 days as they had another wedding to attend in Peoria. My son in law has lots of family there. I treasured every second they were here because we won't see them until Christmas.

In this shot Max and Cora kept running up to the garage door saying "cheese" because I was taking their picture. :)

This is the sandbox my daughter (pictured to the right) played in when she was a little girl. That's my son in law Michael and Cora. The week before they got to our house hubby cleaned out the sandbox. For years it was filled with weeds, sticks and ash from years of burning leaves in the fall. About 5 years ago they banned burning in our area. Hubby bought fresh sand and it was as good as new!

Here's my little blondie Max. He is the most sweetest little boy. Now I'm missing them again. Oh well...time to get on Skype again.

The deer are still hanging around in our neighborhood. I don't see them as often as I was. Here's a couple shots that I caught of them today. The babies are getting bigger.

Now that my grand kids have gone back home to North Carolina, I've gotten back into sewing and jewelry making. Working on snowmen and pumpkins. I've had several requests for snowmen already! I'll be sure to update about them when they are finished.

I've made a few pairs of earrings with my photo's for my Red Oak Images etsy shop. They are for sale now. I love the way have turned out. I'll be listed more as I'm getting my shop ready for Christmas!

They measure 1" long and little over a half inch wide.

Impatiens from my flower boxes

New Guinea Impatiens

Pretty Much Picasso Petunia's 

Sweetunia Mystery Petunias

My Ornamental Grass is starting to bloom!

OK I need your help. This is my first time growing strawberries. I had 3 strawberries in the spring when I planted this. They didn't last very long as the birds got them. I haven't had one blossom since. What am I doing wrong? The plant looks really healthy!

Something to Crow About!

Oh my heavens, it is a hot one today! My weather bug on my computer says 98º!!! Hubby hasn't mowed the grass in about a month. It's not growing because it has turned brown. He worked so hard to get it weed free this spring, and now it's looks terrible. You never know about mother nature. I would be so happy with temps in the 80's.

 I have a new primitive crow available in my etsy shop now!

He stands at 15" tall and is attached to a old chippy paint banister railing.

The deer family is still around.

The third fawn is not in this picture. It was way off to the right sitting down. I see them just about everyday. I took this pic yesterday. I feel so sorry for them out in this heat. I even filled up the neighbors birdbath that is out in the back part of his yard. He never fills it up because he has other birdbaths that are closer to his house. Thought it would be perfect for the deer to drink out of. It's funny how these deer are not that much afraid of humans. I go around my yard every morning watering my flowers and they just watch me. Love it!! But don't love how they like to snack on certain flowers and veggies I'm growing. What can you do.

This young chickadee just sat on the edge of my birdbath for quite awhile. Every once in awhile he would take a sip.

Please stop by my other etsy shop Red Oak Images. The 20% off sale will end tomorrow. That's 20% off jewelry and note cards!!

Deer Family!

Yesterday morning I was up earlier then usual as hubby had to go into work an hour early. And am I ever glad I was up then or I would have missed the deer family! As I was making hubbies lunch for the day he told me he had just seen a couple fawn's over at a neighbors yard. Then I went and looked out our back living room window and saw the fawn's laying down in our other neighors yard! Then looked out our front window and here comes mama with one baby from across the street. They joined up with the two babies in the back yard. This is a shot of one of the three fawn's as it was passing between hour house and the next door neighbors house. I took it through our big picture window in our living room. Isn't it beautiful!

Then mama decided to head back over across the street again and all the babies followed her.

Then these two decided they didn't want to follow mom, so they headed back to the backyard and the one with mama came back too.

Here they all are in their shady resting spot now. They stayed there from about 7:00 a.m. till about 2:00 p.m. resting and snacking from the neighbors apple trees and in my yard on my hosta.

I would check on them, looking out the window through out the day to see if they were still there. Then at 2:00 I didn't see them so I went out on my deck and looked between our house and the neighbors and here comes mama! So I sat down on the steps quietly, on my deck and she walked right past me and all of a sudden the three fawn's come running up to her and start nursing!!! I was about 12 feet away! What a beautiful sight!! I captured this shot with my iphone, as I had it with me at the time, so it isn't the greatest shot. There was no time to get my regular camera. 

Here are a few other photos that I've taken lately.

Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird

Young Nuthatch

Another young Nuthatch. I can sit out on my deck and these little guys are just feet away from me. They like to get the seeds that the other birds drop down on the deck.

My absolute favorite color zinnia this year! It's kind of a salmon pink color.

My Zinnia's are doing fantastic this year!!!

Butterflies love Lantana!