Christmas 2012

Chirstmas 2012 was spent in New York and Pennsylvania this year.

First, of course, we had to have our annual photo shoot and selected our favorites - they are at the end:



My PetsJubilee family on etsy are filled with wonderful people many of whom exchanged gifts, including our secret santa:



I would say the Christmas fesitivities started on Christmas Eve at work, because I took the dogs to work that day, all dressed in their Christmas sweaters and jingle bell collars.
I am sure Giupetto and Gianna had lots of fun. They visited the other offices, and they hung out on my chair and on my desk.
We brought in pizza for lunch in the conference room, and they made friends with my boss, who fed them some pizza, carefully blowing on each piece to make sure it was cool enough for the dogs to eat.




Christmas eve after work we went out to dinner with the family and then went back to John's son's house, where we exchanged gifts. Included in these following pictures is a blanket my DIL Joy had made for us with some great pictures, including pics of Giupetto and Gianna with thier kids. I just love it. I love all of my gifts.





I hope you have enjoyed my collection of Christmas photos.
Merry Christmas to everyone.
May the peace, love and joy of the season stay with you throughout 2013.

Gianna's 8th Birthday - Dec 16, 2012

Hi theres. My name is Gianna, and I just had my 8th birthday.

Moms bought me a really pretty dress from my grandma Pauline on etsy. Mom says we should give the link so any one who wants a dress likes mine can buy one (but not mine because I have that one) PaulinesFashions.etsy.com

 

 

 

 

It is my favorite color blue, and although I am not usually a frilly girly girl I love all the frills on this dress. It has white lacey stuff and blue sparkly stuff, Mom says called sequints, and even the stars are sparklies.

 

And I got a package in the mail of these treats that look like great big bones, but they are really italian cookies called Biscotti. There were 3 in the package and I got one and Giupetto got one but even though I finished mine and Giupetto was still slowly nibbles on his, Mom wouldn't give me the last one. We had to wait a whole day and then share it!!

 

Thank you Grandma Pauline, for making such a pretty dress, and thank you alls for watching my birthday video.

 

((Best viewed if you click on the screen to view in youtube fullscreen.))

 

 

 

Super Storm Sandy leaves it's mark on my town

 

These pics were taken 4 weeks after the storm.

 

This is the lobby of my building.

 

Entire first floor apartment - had to be gutted

 

 

Collected piles of debris line the streets, both sides.

 

 

 

 

Porta Potties are still set up on the streets.

 

Where there used to be cars parked on the street and in the meridian by the shops are now all these disaster recovery trailers and trucks.

 

 

This truck and that hose is attached to my building, still sucking out the moisture and mold after 4 weeks.

 

 

 

 

This sand used to be the street. The sand should be way back to where the board walk is. 

Again this is 4 weeks after the storm and they still have all this sand to relocate.

 

 

We saw cars that were covered up to the roof in sand and seaweed.

And we still saw lots of signs for where people could get free food and water.

 

I sure hope 4 weeks from now there is some significant improvement.

At least we now have power.

Thanksgiving 2012

We went to John's daughter Jennifer's home for Thanksgiving.
This is the wonderful house they moved into recently.
Just such a wonderful place to be. I love the house too.

We took the 2 dogs and stayed over. I think we all had a really great time.

In the past, their dog Lexie and my 2 dogs didn't get along that well, but everyone talked me into bringing them, and they were all right.
I think all 3 dogs have calmed down and everything went well.

Of course they all teased me the whole time about how terrible the dogs were getting along, as I was the only one worried. LOL

Some of the pics in the video were taken by the kids. They love cameras too.

At the end of the short video is a movie clip of Nicholas dancing - it is very cute.
Enjoy.

Halloween 2012

Some cute pictures and videos of our Halloween October 2012.

Mid October we went to our local Halloween parade.

There were some kids in really great costumes.

My favorite was the family that went as Shmores.
The little baby was in a wagon decorated in flmaes.
The baby was dressed as the marshmallow (toasting in the fire). Mom and Dad wore chocolate covered sweat suits carrying boards that looked like graham crackers.

There was seafood soup, with the 2 toddlers dressed as the seafood, inside a wagon decorated as the pot on the stove.

Lots of super heros and princesses and skeletons.

 Lots of babies as lobsters, all very cute.

 

My 2 "kids" went as The Captain of the Pittsburg Steelers, and the head cheerleader, and me and my husband went as the fans.

They were the hit of the parade.

This weekend, in preparing for Sandy, the big storm, I bought them some Halloween outfits to lighten the mood.

Enjoy.

 

 

Rock Hall Autumn Fair/ Festival

We had a wonderful time at the annual autumn festival.
The fair was a huge success, although quite exhausting.

We did have the dogs, Giupetto and Gianna with us for an hour or so on the second day, but I forgot to take pictures. They were dressed in the super hero costumes and they were a huge hit.

The weather was great, the crowds were great, and there was live music both days.

Fun for all.

10 year anniversary

Today is our 10 year anniversary. It is a beautiful day today, so hopefully we will get to spend some of it outside.
Traditionally - 10 year anniversary gift is tin or aluminum, and my husband got me this beautiful aluminum sculpture from Peru. It is called A Flower for My Love. And I just love it!
Silly man keeps coming in with a flower and assuming the same position as the sculpture. LOL

It also came beautifully wrapped and on the outside of the paper bow is what I believe to be a worry doll. It fit right on Gianna's neck as a pretty bow. LOL

 

I couldn't find anything I liked for him in aluminum or tin, but while on line shopping I saw this.

 

I insantly knew it was the right gift. He loves plants.

He put it all together and here is his little miniature garden with little mini gnome, 3 plants, little deck chair and pillow, stepping stones and garden gazing ball. :-)

My New Ankle Tattoo - July 14, 2013

Here's a sample of some of his work:

Just kidding - here is a video of the tattoo I got last night.

Our trip to Montauk

A video of our trip to Montauk - June 2012

John's sister Linda and brother in law Andy invited us to visit their campsite, where they were camping on the beach at Montauk, NY. They had a trailor and a screened in tent for the picnic table. The put down a rug with chairs all around. A wonderful day of relaxation, comfort, fun and family.

We started our day with a little breakfast at an old stomping ground where we had been years ago in Montauk - John's Pancake house. Then did a little shopping. Bought a new floppy straw hat, which unfortunatey I did not get a picture in, and a cute Montauk tee shirt, which John says makes me look pregnant, but I love it. We then all met up at the pool. John's daughter Jennifer was there with our grandson's Thomas, Stephen and Nicholas. AAlso at the pool were John's sister Linda, her husband Andy, their daughter Danielle and her husband Herb and their 2 kids Christian and Natalie. Enjoy.

Giupetto's 8th Birthday - June 2, 2012

Here's his birthday video:

Memorial Day Weekend

The flag went up and the sun came out for a bit.

We planted in our flower pots on the decks. John insisted on buying the plants and flowers this year. My preference are impatients as they bloom for such a long period and do so well in various conditions.  I know John's favorite color is yellow, but impatients do not come in yellow, so I told him to get something in the purple range. That should go nice with yellow.

He bought some hanging ivy type for the upstairs balcony shadow box, with these little purple flowers, and we chose Coleus for the bench seat.

Here's a video of the pictures I took of our 4 day weekend.

Here's a movie with some short clips of the making of the Rock Star design on the embroidery machine:

DaVinci's 2nd Birthday - May 2, 2012

We Got Prezzies in the Mail

I am on a pet lovers and artisan team. This team has become a big part of my life. I love these people on the team, and have made some real friends, some good friends, and I hope some long term friends. Many do not understand on-line friends, as if they are not real. How you can get close to someone you have never met, or that live clear across the country, or even in another country? But it is real, and true friendships do occur.
I hope someday to meet some of the people on my team. But in the meantime it feels good to chat with them, discuss our craft and our sales, share stories with them, pray with them, even cry with them.
Well the other day I received some prezzies (as the people on the team call them) and would like to share them with you, and the shops they came from:

Years ago I met Alice, from www.MakingStuffWithLove.etsy.com. She makes needles felted dogs. These are figurine replicas of your dogs. I had to have her make my 2, Giupetto and Gianna, and they came out adorable.
A while later she found the same team I am on, and our friendshp was rekindled.
Recently I put the needle felted Giupetto and Gianna into a shadow box, that I will make into a little room, and Alice just sent me this adorable rubber tree, floor plant to put in their room.

Then she sent me this great bird mobile. The head bops up and down. It is made of wood.
John and I both love it, and we put it under the gazebo.

Then I met another great lady, who recently joined the team, and has become a favorite to many. Her name is Sue Ann. She makes figurines out of clay, and her artistry is just terrific. Her shop name is www.SamsFurKids.etsy.com.
I asked her to make me figurines of Giupetto and Gianna and attach them to one of my favorite bowls, which you will see at the end.
The other day her little dog Baxter sent Gianna and Giupetto some little gifts. They came in these pretty sparkly little bags. (Gianna and her dog Baxter have a long distance budding romance going on. LOL)

Look at the adorable little charm for Gianna - a little lock and key.

Giupetto checks out the package. What is it?

It is 2 little figurines!! One looks just like Baxter, a Boston Terrier, for Gianna. He has a little red heart on his chest.
The other is for Giupetto and is an adorable frog! How cute!! 

First I put them by the shadow box. But I think they look really cute by the great bowl Sue Ann made us.

Thank you both so much for the wonderful gifts, and for being such good friends.

Please visit these shops - for a replica in either yarn or clay of your pet:
www.MakingStuffWithLove.etsy.com
www.SamsFurKids.etsy.com

Pretty Flower dog Bridal gown in the making

A customer asked me to make a bridal dress for her dog, who she is calling her Flower Dog.

She gave me a description of her own wedding dress, which included:

White lace, western style, rustic, layers of ruffles and lace, and some bling.

Her bridal colors are turquoise and brown, with a touch of yellow and white.

Her malti-poo is white, and she wants color and some lace.

I drew a few sketches and the decision was a turquoise satin skirt, with some white overlay. She did not want a train, but she liked my idea of the lace cascading down the back

The cutting and stitching begins:

Now to figure out how to get the lace to casade and still keep the pretty finished edge. I decided to piece it in levels:

And it looks like this:

Added some organza ruffles, and a nice big satin bow:

And now to get some of the other bridal party colors in there. I added some brown ribbon:

And some yellow flowers:

Finished dress with some matching hair bows.