My Etsy-versary

Today is my 1 year anniversary of opening my Etsy shop!

I listed my first items and my etsy addiction began.

Doing My 'Home' work

My Mom, after retiring, moved back to live in the house that my grandmother grew up in.

The house has been in the family since it was built in 1839 and when Mom moved in the house she wanted to update a few things.

Growing up I had heard stories of my family that built the house and about life there in the 1800's, but it never really hit 'home' til my Mom began work on the house.

The house had one closet that was original to the house and over the years changes were made such as adding a kitchen to the house and raising the roof on the second story.

If you go in the cellar you can see where they chopped down trees to use as the foundation, the logs still have the bark on them. Also upstairs there are little doors to attic storage areas where you can see the original log cabin style to the house.

The house was built by Thomas Young Greenlee and he is in the picture above standing under one of the oak trees in the front yard. Thomas & his wife had seven children (4 boys & 3 girls)

One story I often heard was about how Union Troops camped on the front lawn during the Civil War and they left behind some of their things when they left.

When Mom was redoing some of the ceiling in the dogtrot downstairs she noticed something

stuck in between the joists in the ceiling & pulled it out.

What she found was the Union sword left behind when Stoneman's Troops camped on the lawn during their raids in the spring of 1865.

In third grade, they learn about the Civil War. I was talking to my oldest son's teacher & told her about how we found the sword from the Civil War hidden in the ceiling at my Mom's house.

The teacher was very excited about our find and asked if I could bring it in for the class to see.

This year my youngest son is in the third grade & his teacher remembers me bringing in the sword a few years back & asked if I could do it again for her class.

I have been going through old photos to bring of Thomas Greenlee & his family, some newspaper articles about the Stoneman Raids and accounts of it from books so I can

tell them the history of the sword & the family who lived then.

It has been a great learning experience for me and when I go up and visit Mom

now it is almost like stepping back in time.

Thank you Sweetie!

I have a show this weekend and my sweet hubby has been such a trooper with all my requests for help and then some. When I had my first show, he made me weights so my tent would not blow away. Not only did he make the weights, but being the engineer he is, he designed them so I could easily attach them and even hunted down little bungee cords so they would not be knocking into other things. When I make my clipboards, it is my hubby who seals them for me.
He built a special board so they are off the ground and quick to dry. I get my hubby to seal them because he is much better with the can of spray sealer than I am and he understands what I want!

I made some magnets for a show a couple of weeks ago & they really sold well, so I have been making lots more for this show. The display I used in my previous show was a 10 x 10 punched tin picture that I covered with paper because it was just too country!

It is now way too small to display all these magnets. I told my hubby what I needed & my deadline and he made me a new frame with a smooth tin insert about 2/3 bigger than my old one.

Thanks Sweetie!

Love You!

The Candy Witch

My oldest son has a severe peanut allergy. From day one when we found out I have been creative with things I can do to keep him safe, yet still do all the other things like all the other children. Halloween was my biggest challenge. Dress up and go door to door collecting candy that 90% of it is unsafe for him to have.

It wouldn't be alot of fun to dress up and not ring the door bell & get to go out with friends.

My solution,

The Candy Witch!!!

All kids have a candy witch, but they don't know it.

You leave your stash of candy with Mom & Dad for safe keeping and when you get up the next morning, or home from school it seems a little lighter than before.

It is the candy witch, she comes & eats it!

Our candy witch was a bit different.

After trick or treating all the candy was put in a bag & placed on the

front porch as an offering to the candy witch.

When she arrived, she would inspect the goodies & if she found them acceptable, then would leave a small present in return.

This went over so well that after 3 houses my son was begging to go home so the candy witch would come! This year will probably be the last year the candy witch comes & I am a little sad.

My son is growing up too fast & I will miss the excitement of them trying to get a peak at the candy witch!