Craft a little, snack a little!

There's nothing better than having both a delicious dessert and a creative afternoon, so I thought I'd quickly share a bit of both today.
Which one should we start with? Ok, I agree, we should start with dessert!
My friend Maria made this Martha Stewart Rainbow Cake for our friend Gail's birthday celebrations...

Didn't she pick just the perfect colors?!

It was delish!

Warning though: It was time intensive!

And just a new blog I found today that drew me in with it's title...

Craft Lab: Your Imagination, Distilled

and simple, yet great videos such as this...

Iron-On Transfers w/ Lotta Jansdotter from Rowenta USA on Vimeo.
                                 So get out your iron and delve into a creative day!

Pink Saturday Pretties!

Hi, Friends! I almost had a panic attack while "partying" late into a Friday night at my friend Gail's house that I didn't have my Pink Saturday post organized and then I remembered that Gail's home is PERFECT if you're looking for something pretty AND pink to post! So we'll start in her kitchen where she collects MANY gorgeous cookie jars...

and more...

and of course more...

OOPS, there's my friend Debie peeking in my cookie jar pic!

She's in town visiting all of us from Osaka, Japan where she's working now!

Hi, Debie!

I am asking Gail as I type this how many cookie jars she owns, she said over 200!!!

No, they're not ALL in her kitchen!

Oh, cute little Bo Peep!

Where ARE her sheep?!

She has a few extra pinks too..

Aren't these so CUTE?!

Then I moved on to see what I could find in the living room...

Gail found this tin in Paris, OOOLALA!!

So, we're partying by eating...

a LOT!

And I heard grief because they saw my peach cobbler posting below so we all decided

we must have one tonight!

So off to the grocery store to find ripe peaches and home to Gails to bake a cobbler!

He,he, girlfriends are the BEST!

Here's a crazy picture of us while our peach cobbler is cooking!

Too much fun!

Happy Pink Saturday!

Smelling Summer!

I was walking by my kitchen yesterday and I was drawn in by the sure smell of summer.
Nothing smells like Summer to me than a ripe peach!

These beauties begged to be made into a COBBLER
and I considered the Light Fresh Peach Cobbler recipe, and "light, fresh" made me think it might be just as good, but alas Paula Deen's cobbler won my heart as I knew it would be worthy of such a fine smelling peach!
The recipe was very simple, a little bit of sugar and water and let them peaches simmer!

While those summer sweeties are warming up, you melt "a little" bit of butter and make a simple dough mixture...

and when you combine it all and pop it in the oven, just look at how pretty it is!

Ah, yes, summer doesn't smell any better than a peach cobbler!

Tool Tuesday Happiness

I’m always trying to improve my creative space. This kicked into high gear when my husband and I both had the same idea that we should turn another bedroom into a space for me. We really need to separate my office from my craft space, the glitter and the hardware are dangerously mingling, ya’ know! :>)

I have this fantastic son, Ben, who painted, laid a wood floor and made my day! Then I was on the search for the perfect craft table.

And you know FATE, right? Well, I told my husband one evening, honey, fate has happened. I was looking on Craigslist and there it was looking back me, good old friendly fate, yes, the PERFECT craft table!

Without having seen the listing, my husband was in doubt and thought saying no, no way we’re bringing more into the house. Silly man! I wasn’t ASKING, I was just sharing that OF COURSE this fateful table was coming into the house! Ha,ha!

Now that you see it, you understand too, don’t you?!! PERFECTION! And it was like five minutes away from my home AND the nice man said, I have my truck, I’ll bring it to you! YES, no doubt, it’s FATE!

Because of course the best TOOLS you can have begin with a surface upon which to create them on, don’t they?

And the icing on the top…

Two perfect drawers too! Now if only the process of sifting through my items was as easy. It’s EVERYWHERE, I swear some of it is challenging me to find it a proper storage place.

Silly husband said to me about the large amount of craft goodies I am sorting through, my idea is if you haven’t used it in like six months you should pitch it!

I laughed. That is NOT how creative crafters think! I’ll just slowly keep moving, shuffling and sorting until somehow it all ends up where it should be.

Happy Tool Tuesday! I’m not linking for a bit, didn’t seem to go over, I think there’s just too many link parties anymore and it’s overload. So I’m back to just doing what makes me happy here on my little blog. I tell myself, Suzie, your blog is not your JOB, so just do what YOU want and be happy, so I do!   

Inspiration for the Dream Pink Saturday

We all have an inner voice calling us to our destiny.
As a woman, I often find my inspiration that touches my soul through imagry…
                                         A glance can calm my spirit and energize my creativity…
“Inside you there’s an artist you don’t know about…. Say yes quickly, if you know, if you’ve   known it from before the beginning of the universe.” RUMI 
                                               Sometimes it’s a whisper, barely noticeable….
                                        “Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see”
                                                                   WILLIAM NEWTON CLARK
                                        It can be gathered together and waiting for us to discover…
                                   “You can’t be afraid of stepping on toes if you want to go dancing”
                                                                            LEWIS FREEDMAN
                                           L-O-V-E is often at the center of our soul’s cravings…
                                         “I have found that if you love life, life will love you back”
                                                                    ARTHUR RUBENSTEIN
                                 Even in the simple chores of life there is beauty and inspiration!
  “How fortunate we are to make our life’s work centered on experiencing life with depth and creating a soulful response to it”         LINDA SACCOCCIO
                                   My dream is to drive away to nowhere and to spread open a
                                   banquet of simplicity and memories while I watch the clouds
                                                                           drift overhead…
                                              “We do not remember days, we remember moments”
                                                                           CESARE PAVESE
                                    If we gather together in our beauty, we have the potential to
                                   gather like souls to grace the tables of our lives… Suzie Button
             “If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing”    
                                                                         MARC CHAGALL
             Happy Pink Saturday! Please visit my Pink Saturday inspiration Sheila at Note Songs
            I will end with a view of my soul being fed from the recent Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat…

Handmade Books

You know you're in the presence of an artist sometimes when you first meet a person...

This self-proclaimed 'hippie chick' Deb Taylor was definitely full of

talent, spunk and creativity at the recent Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat I attended.

Deb taught a "Found and Rebound" art class on how to make your own books...

And she brought along examples of books she's created to spark our inner artist souls...

And they were gorgeous...

I loved the layers upon layers she created...

And then we were ready to begin our own books.

Deb had gathered up various design packets for us...

And taught us how to go from a shell and the process of creating your pages

and sewing them in and binding it all together.

Here is my friend Shannon working on hers...

And here's my creation...

I am at work now on the inside pages now that I'm back from vacation.

I learned so much in this class and it's definitely sparked my desire to

learn more about bookbinding and creating!

Thanks, Deb!

You're a super sweet hippie chick to me!

Fun in the Sun!

There were cute babies on Grandpa's shoulders to see above the crowds...

The cousins grabbed the free candy, that's for sure!

The fireworks show capped off the best Fourth of July ever!

Happy Fourth of July!

Nothing is better than spending a holiday with family you've not seen for a long time...
All the brothers together again...

And Madison gets to meet her cousins...
She's in friend heaven now.. .

Plus her Mommy gets a much-needed break from entertaining her all day...

And seeing Madison dressed up in her adorable Fourth of July sundress makes me know the day
is going to be so much fun and so memorable with an old-fashioned parade and local fireworks to look forward to!

Happy Fourth to you and your loved ones too!

Hi, Friends! I know I've been absent, it's because I'm spending a week at the lake in
St. Joseph, Michigan! Loving the beach behind our digs...

And LOVING downtown St. Joe...

The town is quaint and ends up right down to Silver Beach

and the most awesome Carousel from like 1910 or something that has been restored...

The beach was heaven and the temperatures are NOT like Texas

Thank goodness!

Grandbaby Madison wasn't sure about the sand but soon said, ok,

this is FUN!

I've gotta run now because the Uncles and cousins are yelling

LET'S GO SHOPPING!!

Be back soon!

Suzie Button went M.I.A. in a Cowgirl Town!

It was crazy! It was fun! Creative! A blast! There were cowgirls everywhere, bloggers to boot and lots and LOTS of glitter and paper! It was my fun few days at Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat !

I am dying to show you the different projects and goodies I made and

saw and all the talent of the different gals there!

I can't go in order, I am starting with just the first glittery pictures that

grabbed my eye when downloading to the computer!

It also happened to be my first class on Saturday morning,

the Sea Dream Studio Blogger Dale's "Queen of the Sea" shadow box!

Yes, Marie A. is really a Mermaid! EEK!

Dale is a beautiful blogger, as is her lovely daughter plus

they are just so PINK and creative!

Here I am, Miss Cowgirl Suzie Button with them...

It was so organized and just sitting so pretty at our seats when we arrived, and, YES, I wore the crown every minute of the retreat AND on the drive home too!

Dale's crown was too pretty to pass up a close-up!

Now to a few of my classmates' creations as they made their beauties...

Isn't it pretty?! This is a cowgirl that has a Mermaid named blog but I'm going

BLANK tonight! I'm sure it will come to me in a bit! But she's SO talented!

It came to me in the shower that this was The Gypsy Mermaid, Sarah !

I knew I'd figure it out!

And another gorgeous mermaid below...

The pretty never ends...

This is Susan Skinner and her daughter came to craft with her!

What fun to have a mother/daughter weekend of crafting!

And this is Leisl and she too knew how to create a scene of watery, shimmery beauty!

What a fun class, and that was just the tip of the iceberg!

There are queen sashes and vintage hats and flowers and books and all kinds of

FUN to share, but we'll end for today!

I probably won't share again until the second week of July.

I'm getting away for another little bit of summer fun, but I'll share more as soon as I return!