IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

Well, mostly.

Greetings dear reader! Paula Clare LIVE to you from the grave (WINK, I DO have a flair for the dramatic, don't I?) to report on some of the FABulous goodies I've acquired in my absence:

I finally bit the bullet and bought this set for my Ash Wednesday services and for other services where I preside:

Isn't it completely amazing? It is hand thrown by the good folks at Ocepek Pottery in Ohio. I can't tell you how much I love this particular set...I think it looks like something that might have been on our Lord's table at the Last Supper, don't you? (I never "got" the idea of a golden chalice or all the finery often used in church services...I don't think Jesus would have been so pretentious...but then, that's just one Franciscan's view on things!) Every year I scramble for some kind of vessel to use in the Ash Wednesday service, and every year I think, "Oh, if ONLY I had that hand thrown set..." so this year I purchased it. It is one of my greatest and most treasured possessions.

Now in a completely superfluous vein, I have finally discovered the monthly kit club I can afford, AND love:

It's a "Button of the Month" club. Are these not delish? AND a 3 month subscription is only 19.99! I am so excited to get these little goodies in the mail. They are like precious little works of art...definitely EYE CANDY that come to me direct from the artist's hands to my mailbox! Tessa Ann is an Etsy discovery...her shop is full of colorful goodness. The above collection is winging it's way to me as I type! WOOT! Some of the buttons are so gorgeous I'm sure I'll just back them with some fabulous paper and frame them! AND (and this is something I LOVE) the buttons are washable...so I can use them on sewing projects...can you say PILLOWS? Behold the pillow hand stitched while on my "death bed":



This is from a kit purchased at Elsie Flannigan's Red Velvet Art Studio, in Springfield, MO. Adorable, is it not?

More soon!

XOXOXOX



Paula Clare!