Mimi's Birthday!

Well....I had another fun birthday in Florida with all three of my children!!! Now of course

they are NOT children anymore...but I will always think of them as that! Melanie came down

to visit for about 10 days so she was here...plus Mike and Patti and her family. Of course Logan...Mike's little guy was there also. We had a great dinner and a very yummy cake that the girls got from a Cake Lady! It was the highlight of the party!!! Will share some photos from

that evening! The next day we had a repeat of the same thing...more good food and finished

off the cake!

Random Photos

These are a few photos of my Florida family...just random shots of this and that!!!

Enjoying the sunshine!

We feel so fortunate (my husband and I) to be able to come to Florida and escape the cold at this time of the year. The main reason we come is to visit two of our three grown children (the third lives near us in Kansas City). And of course our grandchildren....Patti and her husband have 3 girls....Mike has a 6 year old son Logan. So we get to spend quality time with them.
We have a small condo about a mile from each family....a good bike ride to either place. Florida is nice and flat...so bike riding is one of our favorite things to do. While the weather has been rather cold it is not nearly as bad as the midwest. The beach is a short block from us and hunting for shells and sharks teeth is another fun thing.

Something for Suzanne!

Suzanne is a longtime friend who I recently did a couple of art shows with....(grammar??) We really enjoyed doing the shows and may try a few more...She is very creative and has a workshop/studio in her basement that must be seen to be believed. I told her she should give tours and charge admission! It is like Dickens Curiosity Shop! Before I left to come to Florida (to escape the cold)
she gave me a wonderful flower pin....may show in another blog....and 4 wood boxes that I guess she was throwing out. When I got settled here in Jacksonville....I decided to wood-burn and paint one for her as her birthday is Jan. 18. Love the way it turned out. I also dug through her throw-away pile and retrieved a large book of fabric swatches....so I lined the box with a couple of those....also am working on a purse from the same swatches. "One man's trash is another's treasure!!!! as the saying goes!" I hope she received by now....it was fun to create...it could be a sewing box...button box...I called it an anything box!!!

3 special Miniature rooms for 3 special granddaughters!

I want to share the gifts I created for my 3 granddaughters for Christmas.....Since they have everything I might want to buy them I decided to make them these little room setting Shadowboxes?? Not sure what else to call them....they are 3 dimentional
behind glass with little things that are pertinent to what they are doing now. Tennis...more tennis.. guitar....loving their pets...etc. I have made several of them....for my sisters...a friend...they are so fun to make as I truly get lost in a miniature world. Needless to say they are a true labor of love. It takes a full day just to create the doll...plus all the handmade furniture and little signs.