Verteran's Day, 2011

As we remember the veterans of our Armed Services, let us not forget the freedoms we have as Americans. Thank you, veterans, for your service, both at home and abroad. Thank you to you and your families as well. Let us also remember those currently serving today, as well, and their families, too!! No amount of thanks will ever be enough for the sacrifices made on behalf of all Americans.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN??????

MY OH MY!!!!!  All I can say is.......I have been super busy!!! So busy that obviously I have very much neglected my blog!!

All is well though, with Summer having come and gone, and Fall in the air here at 6,000 feet!  Summer was hot.  Fall has been more like summer so far....although apparently we might get a drop in temperature and a bit of snow during the night tonight!

My Summer included several trips, with a recent one being to the San Juan Islands of Washington State, and the Djangofest Northwest event on Whidbey Island in Langely! FUN!! FUN!! FUN!!!

If you happen to be local folks, I will be at the Fall Show in Highlands Ranch this weekend.  Next week my work will be featured at Four Anns Market in Old Town Littleton!! They are a great antique and cool stuff market, open once a month, Thursday through Saturday.  Stop by and find some great pieces, and perhaps pick up a prim doll or two as well!!

My dolls are also available locally at Vintage Vendors in Old Town Littleton on Rapp Street.  This great shop of antiques and collectibles is open Tuesday through Saturday, and is such a fun place to browse and visit with the great shop folks!

I will also be at a new Denver area show called Home for the Holidays.  This great event will be held at the Washington Park United Methodist Church, 1955 E Arizona Avenue.  The dates are October 21 and 22.  Friday the show runs from 9-7, allowing time for after work shopping.  Saturday the hours are 9-5.  Hope to see you there!!

Make sure to stop by Simply Primitives and The Primitive Gathering this month to see what I have available in my Crows in the Attic Primitives shop on Simply Primitives, my Crows shop on The Primitive Gathering, as well as my Annabelle's Attic shops!

Happy Fall!!

Happy Birthday, America!!!!!

I hope that everyone had a safe and enjoyable long holiday weekend, and have settled back in to the regular routine now!!  I had a nice time spent down in Santa Fe, NM with friends from Austin, TX.  The guys had a gig at a very nice restaurant/bar one night, and at the Wine Festival the following day.  The festival was held at a living history museum location, and what fun that was!!  Volunteers were on hand telling about the work and culture of the time, talking about how the farm is maintained today in the same manner as in the 1800's, etc.  Unfortunately the smoke from the fires in the area was pretty bad, but not as bad as those that have been directly affected are dealing with, that's for sure.  We spent some time in Taos on our way back home, which was fun, too!  I love Santa Fe and Taos...... the culture, the art, the climate, the people, the architeture, and much, much more.  A great time was had by all!!

Should you ever have an opportunity to visit the museum in Santa Fe, you will not be disappointed!! 

FLAG DAY 2011!!

God Bless America and it's flag!! Today is Flag Day!  June 14th each year is the day we honor the American flag and celebrate it's adoption!!

Our flag represents our freedom, and is a symbol of the ideals of the United States of America.  Today, and every day, is a time for us to reflect on what our nation stands for, our belief in liberty and justice for all, and what it means to be a united nation.

May we all celebrate the day by properly displaying the flag of our country, and pausing to think about the freedoms and opportunities that we enjoy, while living in the United States of America.  God Bless America, land that I love!!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY, AMERICA!!

God Bless America, our fallen troops and their families, and our active troops and families as well.  I hope that all of you are having a safe long weekend, and best wishes for the coming week as this long weekend draws to a close for most of us.

Caw! Caw!! Where does time go???

I seem to have been repeating that question over and over since the new year began!! Where does the time go???  What is happening to my life????  It is flying past me at lightning speed!!

As the days go speeding by, I have managed to release a couple of new patterns, and create a few new primitive items!  Please stop by the pattern sites and finished goods sites, all listed on the left side bar to see these new items!!

You can find this great prim gal, Ella Mae, over on Simply Primitives in my Crows in the Attic Primitives shop.  Stop by and take a peek at Ella and other offerings, too!!

I hope that some beautiful Spring weather is blessing your part of the world! We in Colorado have a mix of Spring, Winter and Summer weather, never knowing which kind the day will bring!!  The weather here just keeps life more interesting!!

Thank you so much for stopping by!!  Prim Blessings to all of you!!

APRIL IS HERE ALREADY!!!!!

I keep repeating myself, saying....where has the time gone??? And now......APRIL ALREADY!!!! One fourth of 2011 is already behind us. Yes, today is April Fool's Day. However, rather than playing a practical joke on someone, I would prefer to think of today as......OPENING DAY FOR THE COLORADO ROCKIES AT COORS FIELD!!!! GO ROCKIES!!!

Of course, my favorite sports team is the DENVER NUGGETS, who have come a very long way since the mid-season trade awhile back. Sceptics thought the Nuggets were doomed when they let go two name players....but the team has proven the sceptics quite wrong!! GO NUGGETS!!!

I imagine that many of you are enjoying a nice Spring, with green grass, flowers, etc. We just spent a week in Austin.....with the heat, the humidity, the sauna style weather......and are glad to be back in the mountains with the cooler, dry weather of the Front Range. We do have some greening grass, flowers, and trees getting those special Spring green leaves....but April is our second most snowy month. March is our snowiest month. Not sure what happened there...but it was NOT tons of snow falling from the sky!! November is another big snow month....nothing this year. Not good for the environment, so I have my fingers and toes and arms and legs crossed for more precipitation this month. Here at 6,000 feet precip has been sparse this Winter and Spring.

As always, the prim factory has been in full swing, with new creations and new patterns being cranked out, although not as rapidly as I wish! I have to be the world's slowest production person. I am amazed at the number of finished items I see some folks able to produce. Oh well! I am what I am!!

I have a new rabbit, a Kentucky Primitives design, over on Prim Nest, the new marketplace venue by Kelle of Patternmart!! Flocks of little yellow peeps are available on Lemon Poppy Seeds!!! There's a variety of bunnies and some barnyard chicks listed there, too!! Some great new dolls and other Spring things are available in my new listings on Simply Primitives and The Primitive Gathering, too! And don't forget to check out my raggedies on my Annabelle's Attic shoppes on the above sites, as well!! Stop by my raggedy blog while you are browsing, too!!

HAPPY PRIM SPRING!!!

Spring has sprung!! The birds are singing, green grass is abundant, and the tulips and daffodils are in bloom!! What more could one want here in Colorado on the Front Range???? Well.....we sure could use some snow!! Yes! SNOW!!! March is supposed to be our big snow month....and so far we have barely enough snowfall for the month to measure. Not good. Wildfires are raging. Things are soooooooo dry, it is not a good thing.

New primitives creations are popping up all over, too!!! The bunnies have been plentiful, and today I am working on a few little chicks and such!

I hope everyone is well, enjoying good weather wherever you may be, and looking forward to the next season....if you are so lucky as to live where the seasons actually do change!! That is one of my favorite things about living in Colorado......we have 4 distinct seasons!!

A new finished goods website has now opened, and I am happy to be a part of that venture! Kelle of Patternmart has launched her newest site, The Prim Nest, and you will find my Crows in the Attic Page on Prim Nest HERE!!!

Please use the links of the left side bar to visit alllll of the many sites where I list my finished goods! You will find many everyday prims as well as some Spring and Easter items, too!!

Don't forget to check out my patterns, too!!

Spring Blessings to all!!

.......and the race goes on.......

Gosh, I used to be a good blogger. I used to do regular posts. I never claimed to be organized. But this is pathetic!

I am so far behind in so many aspects of the tasks I impose on myself. But, I am not going to beat up on myself. Instead I am just going to trudge forth, and work toward better time management!! And, as Mike would say.......It is what it is!!

I am thoroughly enjoying the marketing class that I am taking, and the one thing that I am learning is that there is lots that I don't do correctly!! Oh well.....at least I know that now, and can work toward doing something about it!!

Spring has come to the Colorado Rocky Mountain Foothills....following our first REAL snow of the season. We have had days in the 50's and 60's for about a week now, and it is soooo tempting to believe that this will last. Not true. In fact, as many of you know, I LOVE Winter, and I LOVE snow, and we never seem to get enough to suit me. The ski areas have been blasted over and over again, though, which is a good thing. This has been, I believe, one of the record years at the higher elevations for amount of snowfall. The fantasy of Spring will soon subside, since the forecast is for a high in the low 30's on Monday, with snow Monday night and Tuesday.

I have many updates to talk about, and those of you that want to browse or shop, please use the links on the left sidebar to find all the shops that I sell from. Mid-month is raggedy (Annabelle's Attic) update time on some sites, and lst of the month is regular primitives updates on those same sites. However, Lemon Poppy Seeds updates both on the lst and the 15th, and Country Fried Primitives updates both on just the 15th. I have shared some pictures of some of the new listings, both for Annabelle's Attic and Crows in the Attic Primitives!!

I am trying to do better at putting things on Etsy, but have failed at that so far! Another mistake in my marketing!! HA!! If you are a maker yourself, and need great wool for those prim dolls, or grungy tags, etc, please stop by my Ebay store for those kinds of things!!

Don't forget to look at all the patterns, too!! I have many new ones, and so many unpublished ones, that I have set a goal to get one published each week, to be featured in the Patternmart newsletter!! I have been successful so far, since the lst week of January!!! YES!!! I have not failed at this goal!!!

I will sign off today with a wish for everyone to enjoy the day, appreciate the good things, and why not do something nice for someone today??!!! Prim Blessings to all, Trudy

As the first month flies by me........

Gosh! I am already behind!!! Can't be true!! What has happened to the first part of the first month of the new year??? And this was the year that I was NOT going to get behind on anything, and was in fact going to be ahead of the game!!! Well, guess what? Not gonna happen. Nope. It was all a dream.

Much has happened in these few first days of the new year, though. Regis is going to retire. Upsets in the NFL. Regis says the Jets will beat the Steelers. Carmelo Anthony has managed to give headaches to many, with the whole drama of a trade. Now the NJ Nets billionaire owner says no deal. Perhaps that helped the Nuggets play better last night as they beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, as Carmelo and Kevin Durant matched up.

In the world of primitives and raggedies, I have published a few new patterns, and have many new finished items in the works. I am forever kept in a whirl with my supply orders for stained tags, wool for doll hair, homespun strips, stained muslin and osnaburg, etc, found in my Ebay Store. (Ebay ID: palmpanda4ever)

I am taking an online course, the second one I have attempted, in an effort to learn how to better use my time, etc. Hmmmmmmm. Guess it's not quite like absorbing by osmosis!! It's one thing to KNOW something, and another whole different deal to USE what you know!! hahahaaa!!! At this point I think I need a course in how to put into action what one knows!!!

I hope all of you have had a fabulous start to the new year, and are keeping up with all those resolutions....eat better, lose weight, etc....the kind that I don't bother making because I know the outcome of that effort!!

Please stop by some of the sites where I offer finished goods and take a peek at my Ebay Store for patterns and finished goods and my Etsy shop, too! Find my finished goods here: Simply Primitives, The Primitive Gathering, Lemon Poppy Seeds, and Country Fried Primitives.

Before we are ready, February will be here, and I hope to have figured out how to get caught up with life!! Many blessings to all!! Enjoy WINTER!!!

WELCOME 2011!!!

Gosh!! It's already 2011???? OH NO!!! I'm not finished with my tasks for 2010 yet!! Anyone else have that feeling??!! I remember my parents saying that the older you get the faster the years fly by. I remember thinking how silly that sounded, since I knew that it was not a true statement. Time moves at the same pace no matter what your age. Now I get it!! hahahaaaa!!!

Reflecting on 2010 brings many wonderful memories, some challenges, and many successes. Looking forward to 2011 is a challenge in and of itself!! I have so many plans for improvement in my personal and creative lives, more projects and ideas in mind than any one year can hold, trips to take, grandchildren to watch grow, new designs to develop, continuing to work at mastering the art of vegetable and rose gardening at 6,000 feet in a fairly dry climate, learning to manage my time better and become a super organized person, bake more bread, eat less, exercise more, continue on my mission to buy American only, support local independent businesses more, work harder to promote Handmade in America handcrafts, exercise more, and on and on and on.

This is the time of year when I become super energized to clean. Clean the closets, clean the drawers, clean all the little nooks and crannies on the stove, microwave, refrigerator, etc. If only this urge would last all year long with such enthusiasm!! Wouldn't that be grand!!

I love the Christmas time of year, with all the decorations, the children looking forward to Santa, the cookies, the fudge, gathering with friends and family, and those fun kinds of things. I like to leave the decorations up for a long time, as a way of extending the excitement and comfort of the season. By the end of January, I will have put away most, but will have left the snowfolks and other Winter type ornies on the prim tree, and will add some hearts so as to bring the tree through the Valentine's Day time of February.

Here at 6,000 feet above sea level, on the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies, we have NOT had snow to speak of at all until New Year's Eve! At best we got a couple, maybe three inches at most, but that's more than we have had all Fall and Winter. However, the ski areas have been getting slammed, with feet of snow arriving for them! We have had very warm weather, as well, until New Year's Eve, too. We have now seen sub-zero nights, and not much warmer days for a day or so. Tonight is in the single digits, but maybe tomorrow will warm to above freezing once again. On New Year's Day a huge flock of robins came to visit! That has to be a sign of a wonderful year ahead!! I believe these birds do not fly South for the Winter, but instead they are found staying over in a nearby canyon. That is what I was told, anyway!!

I hope this finds all of you feeling refreshed and ready for another year of accomplishment, adventure, productivity, or whatever goals you might have. Thank you to those of you that stop by and visit my blog! Thank you to my valued customers, too. I appreciate those of you that follow my work and have provided homes for some of my creations! May bountiful blessings and great prosperity come to all of you during this new year ahead. Sincerely, Trudy