Silly Halloween Joke Of The Day

Q: Why did the ghost go to the plastic surgeon?

A: She wanted to get a BOO job

BIG News!

A few weeks ago, I received a lovely note from Sonia Cardona Crouse, Owner, Publisher and Senior Editor of the beautiful magazine, "Creating Vintage Charm", requesting the inclusion of my hand-painted Halloween pumpkin for her Marketplace feature. Words cannot describe how excited and shocked I was! SHE wanted MY artwork for HER magazine? I was floored! It truly is an honor, a sincere privilege, to be included in such a wonderful publication and I am so appreciative! When Sonia told me that the issue had been published and could now be ordered online (it's not available in stores) I immediately ordered a copy! I can't wait for it to arrive!



Fall 2011 Issue

 I am absolutely humbled. Starting my own business has been a long-awaited dream. Being creative and supporting my family while doing so is my true calling, my destiny and my passion. To be featured alongside such talented individuals is a blessing; an opportunity for my dream to soar into reality. I cannot thank Sonia enough for her support and encouragement! My heart is filled with gratitude.

Please consider ordering a copy of "Creating Vintage Charm". Not for me, but because it is filled with wonderful and creative articles, beautiful photographs and inspiration from so many sources. Supporting small businesses makes you feel great! You'll also enjoy Sonia's blog.

Thank you for reading! Hugs to all, Leena

Silly Halloween Joke Of The Day

Q: What is a vampire's favorite decorating scheme?

"I vant to rearrange your furniture!"

A: FANG Shui!

Playing With Pictures

Something I hope to have someday is an old, vintage pick-up truck, probably from the 40 or early 50's, painted PINK of course and with my shop logo on it. This would be my junking and hunting truck, so I could have more room to bring home treasures to revamp and sell. I was in Photo Bucket the other day, just playing around with a picture of said truck, and decided to try using a few tools to see how a real truck may look. What I ultimately ended up with was something that I could use as a business card if I wanted, or a flier or something to post online.

Isn't that the coolest thing? All I had to do was add text to the picture and use a transparent background! I tried to put the little cherub and moon up in the corner, but had to cut them out and frankly, I'm not that good with the mouse so it was all jagged and goofy looking. Still, I do like this and it makes me smile to look at it. What are you hoping for today? Whatever it is, I hope that if you can't completely achieve it, you get that much closer to its realization! Have a wonderful day, friends! Hugs, Leena

Lucketts Holiday Open House!

It's almost here! The Lucketts Store Holiday Open House and Design House once again, promises to be fabulous! If you read about it last year, you know that you can expect gorgeous and unique decorations, furniture and home decor items, as well as festive music, fun food and friendly service! It's unlike anything else is this area and well worth a trip from out of town! Click on the button under links in the left sidebar to get more info on their blog. Here's a sample of what you'll find:

Hope to see you there! Hugs, Leena

Yay!

It is a beautiful autumn day! The rain has given way to gorgeous, warm sunshine, the temperature is cool and there's a wonderful breeze blowing through my windows! The leaves have begun to change color and I can hear them rustling in the wind and the little birds are chirping away. I love days like this! They seem to give me more energy - pep in my step! I'm cleaning, doing some projects, taking care of Internet business and enjoying the day. I hope that you're having a fabulous day too! Hugs and smoochies to all! Leena

Oh Boy!

~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~ * This is it! Today is the day! It's the big hospital RUMMAGE SALE! I love this sale and always plan on attending each year. I have found all kinds of cast-offs that I have painted, reworked, revamped and re-loved. There's everything there, from lamps, silver trays, dishes, linens, antiques, furniture, picture frames, artwork, household stuff - you name it, it is probably there! I really hope to come back with some great finds this time. I usually do. I'll report back later with all the news - wish me luck! Have a great day - hugs, Leena


~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~ *

My Addiction

Hello. My name is Leena and I'm a magazine-a-holic. It's true. I admit it happily. I love my magazines! Not just any old periodicals; these are Home Decorating and Gardening and Flea Marketing Magazines! They aren't just something you read while waiting at the doctor's office or in line at the grocery store. No, these are far more important than that. They are my reference materials, my text books, my entertainment, my inspiration. I have learned so much about decorating, design, gardening, period styles and architecture from these vices! They provide me with the information that I crave in order to learn as much as I possibly can about my interests. They're also useful for business as I research the latest color, style and motif trends, for my gardening hobby to discover the newest hybrid or variety of a certain plant I want to cultivate and personally? Well, I must confess, they're just so much fun to read! When I receive a new issue, I immediately flip through it, taking in all the photography. Then, I dive in head first, reading the entire thing from stem to stern, at least once. I even check out the websites listed in many of the ads, thus increasing my repertoire of resources. I collect craft instructions, new recipes and all kinds of ideas and knowledge. For example, I really impressed my family one night when, while watching Jeopardy, I knew that the top of a column is called a capital. You never know what you can gain from reading a magazine!

Some, but not all, of my favorite magazines

I do, however, have one problem and that is parting with these fun and educational printings. I know I can't keep them all, even though I did buy some nice holders to house them. So, I gather up a bunch of possible sacrifices and flip through the pages, tearing out ones of interest and placing them into page protectors for insertion into my ideas binder, recycling the remains. There are some, however, that I do not dissect. They are just so full of junky, flea markety, decorating goodness that I'd end up tearing out each page anyway. Those are the ones that make it into the special holders.

Now that I've discovered Face Book, Pinterest, Blogging and Etsy, there are even more wonderful items and ideas to look at, ponder, plan and do. There are even electronic magazines, e-zines! The wealth of reading material and eye candy now seems endless! Where am I going to find the time to read it all?

Well, now that I've cluttered the Internet airwaves with yet another blog post for you to read, I think I'll scroll down to my blog list and do a little reading myself! Have a great day, enjoy something new, learn something new, do something new and have fun! Thanks for stopping by! Hugs, ~Leena~

Memories of Fall

I love this time of year! Fall is when that nasty, sticky humid air finally gives way to sweet, cool breezes and crisp nights. It's a time when the landscape takes on a whole new color palette, giving us something beautiful to look at as our flowers begin to fade. Hearing the crunch of fallen leaves as they are raked or walked through almost makes me giddy. It's simple things like this that I enjoy so much and try not to take for granted. Is there nothing better than raking up a huge pile of leaves, then teaching a young child how to dive into them? Leaf fight! It's the best!

I always remember at this time of year, one of my favorite cartoons; "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!". As a kid, we always looked forward to all of the Peanuts specials, as they were truly different from other programs and were an opportunity for the entire family to sit and enjoy watching something together. Mind you, this didn't happen that often, as we only had like 4 local stations and one UHF on our old rabbit-eared television. There was no cable, no satellite, no VCR to watch rented programs on. What we had was what there was. Our TV kind of looked like this:

It was a big, ugly box. A console TV. Oh, and did I mention that it was only black and white? No color, no HD, just that grainy black and white that we'd sit so close to that our mom would tell us we were going to ruin our eyes. It was our link to the world though and we were amazed at what we could watch on it. A few years down the road, my parents bought a "portable" TV. It still weighed a ton but had wheels. I guess that justified the portable part. It was still black and white however, but we didn't know the difference. We'd never seen a color TV. Until, oh this was exciting, until the neighbors bought one! A color TV? We had no idea what that meant. I remember the whole family trooping down the street to see this new invention of technological genius. The neighbors were so proud to show it off (they loved to play "can you top this"). A hush fell over the room as they turned it on (no remote of course) and all of us kids lined up on the floor about 6 inches away from the screen. There it was, it all its glory - a color picture! A very muted, watered-down color picture, but none-the-less, it wasn't black and white any more! How could this be? Our little brains went wild trying to figure out this magical marvel. From then on, we were always invited to watch all of the Peanuts specials, including the Dolly Madison Cakes commercials, at the neighbors' house so we could have the benefit of color TV. (I don't think that they really felt sorry for us, they just liked showing off LOL)

Being the sentimental person that I am, I went out and purchased all of my favorite holiday cartoons on VHS tapes as soon as my kids were old enough to watch them and made a big deal out of the first showing. I'm not sure if they got as big a kick out of it as I did, but that's OK. Now, we have our two little grand babies to share them with. I think it's time to have a special showing! 

Have a happy day! xo, Leena

Morning Smile

My youngest daughter needed to take her car into the shop yesterday morning, so she asked if I would meet her there, drive her to a doctor's appointment and then loan her my car to drive to work. :::insert major hesitation grimace here::: Not to get too attached to an inanimate object, but I love my car! It's the first one I ever bought myself that was brand new right off the showroom floor (seriously, it was inside the building) and I take very good care of it. I don't like garbage inside or dirt outside. I like it to smell nice and look nice. I like it to be in one piece! Still, I agreed to let her use it (understand, her driving record is, well, a bit of a mess). She assured me she would take good care of it. So, while I was waiting for her to finish her appointment, I drove over to McD's for some oatmeal, yogurt and a bottle of water. I even bought the kid a yogurt too, I'm so nice LOL! Upon returning to the doctor's office, I noticed how pretty the surrounding area was and decided to have my breakfast al fresco. It was a bit chilly, but a beautiful day, sunshine beaming down giving so much relief from the week of  heavy rains we had just experienced. There were benches positioned amongst the trees - very convenient. As I enjoyed my breakfast, I was enamoured by how beautiful the day was; how the sun dappled through the trees making interesting and intricate patterns on the ground. The crickets were still out chirping, providing pleasant background music and a band of crows lent their "caw caw" bass to the mix of other birds, who happily tweeted away. I took in a deep breath and let it out, slowly, while allowing my shoulders to drop and body relax. "This is what I need" I thought. "This is what we all need".


Since getting my business license and going full time into self employment, my world has been a whirl of activity, both physically and mentally. I am constantly thinking, day and night, which is not allowing for proper sleep time, but new ideas, questions, concerns and the like are constantly running through my head. How can I make my business a success? How can I draw more attention to my online shop? What other options for selling are there that I haven't tried yet? What should I create tomorrow? Where should I begin with all the projects I want to do and have in mind? What if this doesn't work? Yes, it's been a mix of highs and lows, of confidence and doubt, of self-assurance and nervous worry.

I think that we all experience this at some point in our lives (please tell me I'm not the only one going bonkers), whether it's related to a job, a business, our relationships, or personal growth and I hypothesize as to whether it's counter-productive or not? Is it best to be less obsessed and more passionate? Does the obsession drive us to motivation or insanity? LOL  I may have already gotten to that last part! Anyway, all kidding aside, I think what we all need is to get in touch with something that makes us take that deep breath and exhale slowly, to relax, to gather our thoughts in a more organized, less frantic manner. We need to clear the clouds of doubt and negativity, whether originating from outside sources or from within ourselves. We need to work hard, but take time out to regroup and reconnect with our lives as a whole. We really do have the power to accomplish anything we put our minds to. We have the talent, the intelligence, the motivation and the drive to make things work, whatever your "thing" is. So, I'm suggesting that today, no matter what it is that you are doing, take a little time right in the middle of the chaos and find something that will cause you to breathe, to relax, to rejuvenate and reflect. It really has done wonders for my motivation today (I woke up early, organized in my thoughts and ready to go) and I hope you will benefit from it too! Have a fabulous day, friends! Hugs, ~Leena~

This says it all. Photo courtesy of julie.shelander

EtsyCouponCode - Your place to get Etsy Coupons before you Buy on Etsy.

EtsyCouponCode - Your place to get Etsy Coupons before you Buy on Etsy.

It Was Only A Matter Of Time

Well, it's happened. I knew it was only a matter of time, but I really didn't expect it to come this soon. Today, however, I could no longer hold it off for the chilly temps and rain got the best of me and try though I might to fight the elements, I was weakened by their fury. Yes, today I had to wear shoes. I HAD TO WEAR SHOES! With socks and everything! No flip flops! Isn't that horrible? Couldn't you just die? Phew! Thank you for listening. I just had to get that off my chest (and these shoes off my feet!). I feel better now.

Hope you're having a great day! XOXO, Leena

More Piggie Fun





Tonight, we brought all the piggies out for some play pen fun and so that Mocha, who is still in his own cage, could see the babies and Sophie again. They had a great time running around, "popcorning", which is when they leap straight up into the air, and chattering away while sharing some veggie treats. I attempted to get a picture of the entire family, but I must tell you that getting 5 guinea pigs to all stand still and face the camera at the same time is more difficult than dealing with people, children even! Still, I did get a few that I wanted to share. I can't help it - they're so darned cute!

Sophie, Mocha and the three babies

Daddy Mocha and his three babies

 I hope you're having an enjoyable day with your family too!
 xoxo, Leena

Pink Cherub Moon Etsy Shop Coupon Code!

Hi all! From now until October 31st, you can get a 10% discount on your purchase from http://www.pinkcherubmoon.etsy.com/ by using the coupon code located under my shop banner. Head on over, check things out and if you are interested in purchasing, enter the code upon check out! I'm running out of room in my workshop and need to clean house so I can bring in more great goodies for you! I'm sure there's at least one "gotta have" that you'll find =:)Thanks and have a wonderful and joyous day!! XOXO, Leena

Reloved Rubbish Give-Away!

Those wonderful Loot Ladies over at Reloved Rubbish are having a give-away for an awesome 12"x12" stencil of your choice, provided by Maison de Stencils http://stencilstudio.vpweb.com/default.html

Click the link below and enter to win - I know I am!!

http://relovedrubbish.blogspot.com/2011/09/stenciled-slipcovers-for-parsons-chairs.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RelovedRubbish+%28Reloved+Rubbish%29