Beauty All Around Us

 

It's a new month and soon it will be a new year!

Time marches on, right? 

It's important to take time to stop being too busy and just look around.

You will find there is beauty everywhere.

Driving near a lake, it was impossible not to stop and snap a few photos of the loveliness in front of me.

It was actualy breathtaking beauty the eyes saw.

We have so many gifts given to us by our Creator. 

He never requires any of us to be filled with gratitude but one's heart feels so full when it is.

May you stop for a moment today, look around, find something striking to look at. 

That's your gift from the Creator on this first Sunday in November.

Happy Halloween

 

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Halloween.

This is a day that's fun for the kids, mainly.

What could be more exciting than getting dressed up in a costume and heading out to do trick or treating?

May everyone enjoy the celebrations!

Easy Crafts Project

 

So many cards received at Christmas are absolutely adorable.

A few are usually out-of-the-ordinary beautiful.  

The latter, I always put aside in a dresser's small drawer.

Throughout the year, after the holidays, I'm always on the lookout for attractive photo frames.

Whether it's to a Goodwill, other thrift store, estate sale, or whatever, pretty frames can always be found for pennies.

The gold tone frame found last weekend was perfect for one of those fave Christmas cards.

With just a little bit of trimming, it fit perfectly and looks great.

These recycled, framed cards make super little gifts for others, too.

Wrap in a piece of pretty paper and add a bow and voila!  You will have an instant gift that costs pennies.

DO YOU EVER SAVE YOUR PRETTIEST CARDS?

Second Hand Treasures Galore

             

Yesterday, on this blog, we showed a very lovely wall clock.

It had been purchased in a Goodwill thrift store in New York.

It ended up being just $1 instead of $9.99 because that Goodwill offered one dollar items on Sundays, on certain tag colors.

The tag that day was red and the really beautiful clock had a red tag. It cost just $1!  Unbelievable.

Some of the other items purchased----all for under $15!----are shown in this post.

With Christmas around the corner, I thought these very pretty tin napkin rings would be perfect.

There are two really fancy ones, too.  Oooo lah lah.

The figurine at the top of this post is a little aqua glass angel. 

She's as pretty as a picture and cost the grand total of 99 cents.

Here's a little figurine of an angel pushing a cartful of stars.

 She is so adorable.

Last, but not least, I purchased this very attractive gold-tone frame.

If interested, check out tomorrow's post to see what ended up going inside of it!

DO YOU ENJOY THRIFT STORE SHOPPING?

The Sad and the Happy

Life evokes all kinds of emtions in humans.

Some days we feel both sadness and joy, not necessarily at the same time.

Sunday was like that.

One of my sisters drove another visiting sister to the airport as she was flying back to California.

I went along for the ride and had to say "goodbye." It was a bittersweet moment hugging my sister, Diane, in front of the airport terminal.

As we age, we never know whether a goodbye is going to be the last.

After we left, the remaining sister and I hit a Goodwill that was really great.

It was clean, well organized, and had absolutely beautiful, high quality items.

We were in our glory.  

When I saw the huge clock at the top of this post, I was elated.

It looks like brass but it's not. 

The price tag on it said, $9.99.

When I got to the checkout , the kind lady rang up the clock as $1.00.

What?

Yup, I was told that Sundays were dollar days at this Goodwill.

If an item has a sticker with the color of the day, that item is a buck. 

Sunday's was red and the clock sticker had red on it.

It was hard not to do a happy dance in the middle of the aisle.

In order to avoid an impossibly long post, the rest of the purchases at Goodwill will be shown tomorrow so if you are interested, come on back!