Look What I Have :)

Before I get to my purchase - I have added new Etsy mini's on the sidebars of my blog. They are all new shops and would really love for you to drop by and have a look!

I think everyone knows how addicted I am to handmade B&B products :)

Sandy's Homemade Soaps and Things is having a give away on the Waterwaif blog, the end date is Aug 3 - so you still have time to enter. You could win a set of 2 bars of handmade soap (Oatmeal, Milk, & Honey soap & Black Raspberry Vanilla) plus a wooden soap dish! Of course I entered.


The main entry is to check out her shop, so I did. When I was there I noticed that she is offering free shipping until the end of July, so I took advantage of that and made a purchase. My order consisted of 4 flip flop soaps, one bar of Black Raspberry Vanilla and a bar of Cucumber Slice. Just received them the other day and couldn't be happier!! They smell amazing!! The flip flops are just too cute - might have to give them as gifts. This will be my first try at the cucumber scent - it smells amazing unused, so I'm sure it will smell amazing in the shower :)

Oh - the little extra soap is Grapefruit. Will try this one first.
If you have time be sure to enter the give away, and please check out Sandy's shop!!

Sunflower Festival - Gallery in the Park

We have quite a few artsy people in Southern Manitoba. So Altona renovated this wonderful old house into an art gallery. It's only open in the summer, and unfortunately I can't take photo's inside. Luckily though they also made some beautiful grounds beside it where they feature wonderful art. Here are some of my favorites this year.

Hope you enjoyed the Sunflower Festival for 2010 :)

Bamboo Jewelry

There are so many jewelry shops on Etsy, it's wonderful when I find a unique one.
JP Tags has some really cool bamboo earrings, plus other amazing items :)

*Where are you from? Tell us a bit about yourself.
Hello I am Jarrett Parker I am originally from Montgomery, Alabama but currently reside in Savannah, GA where I attended Savannah College of Art and Design.

*How did you decide on your shop name?
Its my name, kept it simple.

Why did you start your business?
I have always been creative. I started working on this project and locally received a lot of positive feedback from peers so I decided to put my creations out there to share with others.

*What or who inspires you?
My sources of inspiration change. For this group of items I was inspired by spirituality and The Holy Trinity.

What are 5 things you want people to think when they see your product?
I want to have that. :)

*What’s your supply addiction; is there a specific color or type of supply you just can’t pass up?
I like experimenting but as of right now I am loving the bamboo.

*Which item in your shop did you enjoy making the most and why?
I enjoy making all my items. But as of recently I really enjoyed making my letter-graphic and trinity earrings. Women suggested I design some earrings and so I did and am really pleased with the outcome.

*Are there other places on the net we can find you?
I am also on a site similar to etsy called ponoko at
http://www.ponoko.com/showroom/JP

Sunflower Festival Part 3 - the Quilt Show

There is a wonderful quilting club in town - Heirloom Quilters. One of my neighbors is in the group, a fellow bus driver and also Peter, a friend we've had for years. Peter just started quilting and is doing a quilt for each of his boys.

The oldest son has this quilt. The top is exactly like the bottom, but the quilts are so long they had to fold them over to get them to hang in the space.


The youngest son is getting this one. Yes they are eggs, one for each month of the year. The one that is for June has his son's year of high school graduation on it - 2016. Isn't that just the neatest quilt?

The middle son's will be done this year :)

The quilters group made a quilt to cover a car for in the parade. Isn't that amazing? Wonder how long it took to make it?

This was our favorite. We loved the colors and the design.

Yes it's black and white. There was a whole section of black and white quilts, in all sizes, but this was my favorite.

Here are some other quilts from the show:


Stay tuned for the last installment of the Sunflower Festival - The Gallery in the Park. Posted on Friday.

Teaser Tuesday - Rules of Deception

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme,
hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser for the Week:
"It's none of your business. Leave it. It can only go badly for you. Philip Palumbo mulled over thewords, then leaned across the front seat of his car and removed his service sidearm from the glove compartment. It was because nobody took a stand that the world was in such sorry shape."

Page 273, "Rules of Deception" by Christopher Reich

This is the first book I'm reading by this author. It took a little while to get into. The beginning few chapters are 3 different stories, hopefully they all come together eventually :) It's good though. This is the first book in a series, will definitely be getting the next one.

What are you reading today?

Sunflower Festival Part 2 - Car Show

Every year the local car club puts on a show in the park on Sunday afternoon during the festival. Of course there was no way to take a photo of every car and post it here, so I took photos of a few favorites :)


This next car has a story. We talked to one of the people who owns it now. It was his brothers car, but he passed away before he could work on it. So the rest of the family got together and finished it in his memory. The numbers above the finish line are 38.08.13 - meaning he lived to be 38 years, 8 months and 13 days. Way to young to have passed on. But his family did an amazing job! What a wonderful way to remember someone.






I know it's not a car - but I like it!


Stay tuned for Part 3 on Wednesday - The Quilt Show!

Sunflower Fesitval Parade

In July Altona, my home town, holds the Manitoba Sunflower Festival. It starts on Friday with a few things happening around town, but Saturday is the big day. Everything begins with the morning parade :)

Waiting for the parade to start. Right to left - Brad (hat), Heather (Logan's girlfriend), Logan, Luke and Zach (friend of the family)

Why does the first thing in a parade have to be bag pipes? Not my favorite sound.

We are only 6 miles from the ND border, and there are quite a few Americans that come up for shopping and the Festival.


Apparently every guy needs a motorized bar stool?

I want one of these!! But maybe in yellow or red.

Just what every one needs! A motorized couch :) The gentleman in red owns the local Furniture store.

Brad wanted a photo of the truck with bubbles.

Last summer Luke worked at Fort Garry Fire Trucks in the Engineering department. Altona was getting a new Fire Truck that year and Luke even got do design a few small pieces for it. This is the Fire Truck.

Since it's a farming community you have to have some machinery in the parade :)

I didn't take photo's of every float or entry - that would just take too long! Stay tuned for Part 2.