Monday, June 29, 2009

Sometimes....

..sometimes scan in signatures for tiles...
..sometimes try to describe all of the different
occasions engraved tiles can be given as gifts...
...sometimes use a different font...
...sometimes use a very popular font
to engrave a beautiful verse of scripture...
..sometimes use a new font on
the same scripture...on a different size tile...
...sometimes use artwork to try to properly
depict the wording on the tile...
....sometimes show a tile that has been
popular as of late, as a gift for someone who
has lost a loved one....
...sometimes try a new font to engrave
a beautiful Scripture...
...and sometimes try this more than once...
on a different size tile....

...and sometimes have camera on hand
to photograph new items before shipping them!

Please check back later this week
for an upcoming giveaway!
To commemorate the 4th Of July,
we'll be giving away 'tile of choice'
to the winner(s)!

Thanks for visiting & blessings always,
Kaye
Matthew 21:22

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Kelly's Tour...Master Bedroom

This is where we rest...
...and our master bedroom is located where it is
solely because of this view out our back window...
...this piece of engraved tile has been glued
back together.
It was found by a dear friend of mine, Kay,
the morning after we lost our home.
She brought this to me
in pieces and I remember thinking His word
would be what, if anything, could get us through such
a disaster. It has since that day been beside my bed.
Before it was on an easel in my kitchen window and
I'd engraved this entire Scripture on a tile as a constant
reminder to myself and others to 'Be Still.....'
...a very precious 'piece' from our former home...
...we really enjoy the openness of this beaded ceiling...
...Maddie, our adopted Grand-Dog
and I share this side of the bedroom..
...and Jack opted to be closer to the 'boys' room...
..showing numerous photos of the kids and grandkids
on more of the furnishings we found at the
antique auction...
...and two Antique prints I was thrilled
to bid on and win at the auction...
...both properties we've owned in Texas
were formerly owned
by a Texas Oil & Ranch family, The Stephenson's.

This same family owned an old
downtown hotel named 'The Stephenson Hotel"
which operated here for numerous years and later
was demolished to add parking spaces downtown.

Several years ago I was in an antique store in
Mt. Vernon, Texas and saw this light fixture.
The store owner told me it came out of the
Old Stephenson Hotel and I thought for 'history'
sake surely it could be used somewhere
in our home, and at $25.00 I couldn't pass it up.

I brought it home and placed it under a table in
the shop and had never used it in our home.
While rebuilding we decided we'd use it
in our bedroom.
Jack says it is the ugliest fixture he's ever seen..
but I love it and am very proud to still have it.
...various pictures, some new & some old.
The old ones of course, cherished photo memories
we never thought we'd see again...
...hard to describe how thankful I was the day
Mary Katherine called to tell me she found some
surprises at her Mom's...this picture of her from our
wedding day had always been a fixture beside my bed,
and now it is there once again.
....HE restores....
...and even though we seldom use it, we have a TV in
the armoire in our bedroom...and rocking chairs
just in case there is ever some 'down' time.....

...and the large carved chest at the foot
of the bed is a great
place for extra pillows at night....

Night...hope you enjoy sweet
Kelly's Tours this week...
Blessings always,
Kaye

We may boldly say:
"The Lord is my helper; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?"
Hebrews 13:6

Happy Birthday Trent!

Happy 3rd Birthday Trent!
We love you 'whole world full'
and hope you have a wonderfully
blessed day!
Jackpaw & KK

PS "Don't worry---be happy" :)

May the love and favor of the
Lord Jesus Christ rest upon you.
1 Corinthians 16:23

Thursday, June 25, 2009

First time for everything!

Our neighbors & friends, Larry & Rhonda have a
small vegetable garden and are very kind to share
their delicious fresh produce with us each Summer.

They mentioned last week they didn't know
what they were going to do with all of the cucumbers
their garden was producing so I started searching
for a pickle recipe that I thought 'maybe' I could
tackle since this would be my
1st canning experience EVER!

I found a recipe here, then it was off to the
store to buy canning jars and the
other ingredients necessary to TRY my hand
at canning.....
Here are the results!
Not sure how long we have to wait to taste
these Bread & Butter pickles,
but hopefully they'll be enjoyable
and since I have lots of empty jars left
I'm ready to make another batch when more
cucumbers become available!

Next I want to try these
when time allows!

Thanks Tina
for your great canning recipes
and thanks also for the 'canning tutorial'.

You've inspired me to start
a new hobby that I remember my
Grandmother and Mother enjoying
through the years.

Have a wonderfully blessed day,
Kaye
Matthew 21:22

Let your conversation be gracious
and effective so that you will
have the right answer for everyone.
Colossians 4:6 NLT

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

New Tiles & Big Jesse Loving This Drought!

"Boomer Sooner" is engraved around OU
on these 6" x 6" Slate Tiles...
...a new wedding tile with Scripture from Ruth 1:16
engraved on the bottom...
...a special gift for a couple who will be celebrating
their 50th Wedding Anniversary soon
with Jeremiah 29:11-13 engraved on the bottom...
..and last but certainly not LEAST...
BIG JESSE is absolutely LOVING this drought
since he gets to enjoy the sprinklers watering,
so he'll have grass to eat through the Summer!

Have a wonderfully blessed day,
Kaye

The Lord who created you...says,
....I have called you by name;
you are mine.
Isaiah 43:1

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Congratulations Zachary!

Zachary's catching stance #1...
...and Zachary's catching Stance #2...
..teams shaking hands after the BIG game
with the words
"good game" repeated over and over
throughout the line...
Congratulations Zachary on your
1st All-Star appearance.
The Mt. Pleasant T-Ball National Team
had a great tournament!

And I do think they'll make it into the
Guinness Book of World Records having
made only 1 out during the first game they played,
only because one of the players on the
opposing team ran out of the baselines!

Have a great day,
KK
Matthew 21:22

You should behave instead like God's
very own children,
adopted into his family----
calling him "Father, dear Father."
Romans 8:15 NLT

Monday, June 22, 2009

2009 Texas Ranch Roundup

Susan Knowles-Martin, a student & friend we met at
The University of Florida while Tripp
played baseball there has lived in Wichita Falls, TX
the past several years.

Susan was a sportscaster for
NBC in Wichita Falls and after having children
she decided her TV schedule wasn't 'kid' friendly
so she now works for
The North Texas Rehabilitation Center.

She called several weeks ago to tell me about
The Texas Ranch Roundup and wanted to know
if I could engrave their prizes this year.

After shipping the prizes to her, I asked for more
information about the "Roundup" and below is
her synopsis about this great event...The Texas Ranch Roundup is the original ranch rodeo
held in Wichita Falls, Texas each August.
This year marks the 29th year the event will be held.
It features 10 historic Texas ranches competing for
bragging rights in arena events,
chuck wagon cooking and festival events.
All proceeds from the event benefit the
North Texas Rehab Center
in Wichita Falls,
the West Texas Rehab Center in Abilene
and the West Texas Boys Ranch in San Angelo.
All provide quality physical, occupational and
speech therapy to children and adults
regardless of their ability to pay.

Sounds like a great organization to work for
and the roundup sounds like a fun outing/competition
for ranchers, their families and their workers.

Best of luck to The Rehab Center,
as we hope the event is
better than ever this year!

Blessings today and always,
Kaye
Matthew 21:22

Winner & others...

Recently I hosted a giveaway for a set of grilling tools
for the winner to have in time for Father's Day.
Bobby from Tuscaloosa, AL was given his set
of tools by his children yesterday!

And I engraved a set for my brother and brother-in-law
in honor of Father's Day and as you'll see on "Korky's" set
I engraved Scripture as well as his name on the box
which holds the grilling necessities...
..."the Southern Belle" tile is one I've engraved over
the years but recently had an order for one on slate,
so I took a photo of it to share...
...this was engraved for a 'blended family' and
they didn't want a last name engraved...
so this is what we came up with for their
'large' family...
...and another one I've engraved over the years,
but thought it was a good one to share again....
truer words have never been spoken:),
I mean engraved...

Praying all Dads had a wonderfully
blessed day...even after 18+ years
it still has a 'sting' to it not being able
to wish my Daddy a Happy Father's Day.

Blessings today and always,
Kaye
Matthew 21:22

Fight the good fight for what we believe.
Hold tightly to the eternal life that
God has given you,
which you have confessed
so well before many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:12 NLT

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Door(s)...and Mudroom

The laundry room is never a favorite room
in a home, but for me, ours is special because of
'a door'.

This door was once the front door for a home
in South Mississippi.
The history of this home in our family goes back to it
being built in the early 1900's.
I've heard stories from people who remember
the beams being brought in with horse & buggy..
and hopefully the 'history' as I remember it being
told is accurate...
My sister-in-law's Great-Grandparents
originally built the home.
Later she lived in this home with her parents,
then a first cousin of ours owned this home.
Then my parents bought this home from my Dad's nephew
and while living there,
my younger (only/favorite:))
brother lived in the same bedroom
that his 'wife to be' lived in when she was younger.

Her Grandmother lived next door and that is how
she and my brother first met.

We lost my Grandmother, Dad and Mother in this home,
in that order. There were times when my Mother
didn't know if she could stay there, but thankfully she did
as we LOVED this 'old home'.
This place always felt like "Home" p.e.r.i.o.d.

When we lost my Mom in 1998, one of our main concerns
was, "how in this world would we ever find GOOD
neighbors for our sister-in-laws very special Grandmother?"
As we pondered several scenarios we asked my
brother and his wife if they'd like to have the home.
They finally agreed!
My sister, Stephanie's Grandmother
and I were VERY thankful!

They remodeled the home, removing all windows and doors,
and added a bathroom which had always been needed.
When they decided to take on this project, I told
them I'd LOVE to have the windows and doors
that were removed from the home.

These were brought to Texas and placed in our
warehouse not knowing how-when-if we'd ever
find a way to use them.

After losing our home in 2005,
I wanted "the door" in our new home.
We finally decided to use it on the utility room
closet door. A friend took the door and later
told me he could not count the layers of paint
he removed while sanding it.
After he sanded it to its original color,
we whitewashed it, then sanded more,
revealing almost a 'crackled' finish.

Needless to say, I LOVE this door
and all that it stands for.
..a framed cross stitch piece given to me by
Tripp and his family...that I have hanging next to
"the door"...
...and loving red once again...had these cabinets
in the utility room 'roughed up' a bit..
..and had the cabinet guy build in drawers
under the washer and dryer to hold hangers...
..and have thoroughly enjoyed the
sink in the utility room for watering plants,
washing off 'very' dirty shoes, etc....

...found these old ammunition boxes that
I've used around the house to hold books...
...engraved MUDROOM on a cabinet door,
then faux painted it and filled in the engraving
with black paint....

I engraved cabinet doors naming a few rooms
in the house and we joked about it at the time
saying these were made for Jack, so he'd always
know 'where' he was in the house:)
Needless to say, I've yet to 'finish' the others
to hang throughout the house...
maybe one day!

...and one of my favorite Scriptures engraved
on a tile...I previously had cross stitched this
Scripture and had it in our entry way in our
previous home....
..this cabinet is in our mudroom/mud hall area.
It was built to hold 'electrical stuff'..
a pet peeve of mine is hating to see cords.
I had a lot of electrical plugs installed
inside these cabinets to hold cell phone chargers,
weather radio, camera battery chargers,
answering machine, etc.....
..and bins, coat racks, hat racks,
umbrella holders,
baskets in bins for gloves, flashlights, etc...
in this hallway/mud hall...
HOPE
..a wonderful reminder hanging in the hallway,
given to us by Mary Katherine & her family...
..a framed embroidered piece...
and a decoupaged Scripture to
hang in the hallway...
both found at Goodwill...
Philippians 4:7
...a young man who works for us a couple of hours
each afternoon was in the midst of remodeling his
home while we were building.
He brought this door
he removed from his home for us
after he learned about the
door from my parents' home...
so we used it in Jack's TV room...
...and this framed print hangs in Jack's TV room.
This was a 'gem' of a find for me at the auction!
My Dad's parents had this same print in their home
and when I saw it, I knew it was a 'must buy'.

I learned Auction's #1 Rule that night.
It was our first time there and when this came
up for auction I raised my number and left it up!
It DID NOT MATTER who else wanted it,
I was going to win this auction at all costs!
The people around me, my husband included,
scolded me, telling me,
"DO NOT EVER DO THAT AGAIN!"

I was lucky, it didn't cost an arm and a leg,
but never again did I raise my number and
KEEP IT RAISED
while an item was being auctioned off.
To be honest,
there were times I wanted to. I kept reminding
myself of Auction's #1 Rule.....
Of course, the auctioneer got a
kick out of watching this
as it transpired and told me later
I did 'exactly' the right thing.
But having heard otherwise from so
many people there, I decided they were right
and he was wrong, or he was LOVING my
'auction way', and why shouldn't he,
since that is the business he is in!

Later I learned the framed print had belonged
to a personal friend. He came up to me that evening
and asked, "why did you want that SO bad?"
He totally understood...once I explained to him,
it was a very sentimental print.
Thanks Jeff for offering your print in the auction!

And no,
they don't allow me to go to the auction anymore:(
...which in all honesty,
is probably a 'good' thing...

Thanks to sweet Kelly for allowing
the 'show us where you live' tours...

...enjoy browsing through others homes...

Thanks for stopping by &
blessings to all for a safe and wonderful weekend,
Kaye
Matthew 21:22
Revelation 21:5

For everything that was written in the past
was written to teach us,
so that through endurance and the encouragement
of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Romans 15:4 NIV
 
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