P.I.E.

PIE.... at first thought ,you might think...... mmmmmm....yummie pie! But this PIE I speak of is different.... It's another acronym - it stands for Presentation Is Everything.....

A dear friend I meet over bloglandia..... has some impeccable PIE. ( i think she even coined the term?) She has a little shop over at ETSY that I highly recommend and she has one of the sweetest hearts I have encountered, she is my modern day pen pal, and super heroine artisita. Recently, I was DAK'ed by her..... DAK??? RAK is what you might be used to seeing... Random Act of Kindness........ DAK is Deliberate Act of Kindness :)

Back to the pie! She sent me the best piece of PIE, I think I have every received! First of all, she knows I have a soft spot for owls (hoot-hoot). A while back she was selling this GREAT owl vase from her studio and I swooped it up for a few bucks for a christmas gift... I thought it would make a GREAT pen cup for my husband's office (he, also, likes owls)... Well.... as you can see here. Mr. Smarty pants never left our house..... he sits happily on a book, on a shelf, in our kitchen. :)

This owl has a very happy home at our nest.

The package from Nathalie... begins with one of my favorite stamps from her - it's an ogre or giant or elf or hobbit? you decide... anyhow every time I receive something from her with this stamp... my sons just go over the moon - and personally I see why... he's such a cool looking guy!

After I unwrap the white part..... I discover a box that has been reused.. it has some of the BEST karma (it's been back and forth btw Nathalie and Linda - to of my blog heros.....how COOL!!it's like receiving mail from ROYALTY!) Oddly enough.... it's so fascinating, for me, to see the "travelocity" of a box or envelope - the more times it's been re-used - the better of a package it is.....

check out what she wrote.... the sisterhood of the traveling box.... hahhahha

I opened it up.... and it's almost as if I heard a chorus of angels (you know the ones that do the kohler commercials...) then I just crack up.... Nathalie and Linda have the BEST sense of humor... one of them began the love story of Mitch and Laura - and added and added to their romance...

the box alone was enough to make me happy - just the box... but it gets BETTER.... there's Nathalie's signature tissue paper..... a vintage sewing pattern... I LOVE it..... enclosed on top of the "DAK" was a letter, in the form of an OLD canceled out check from like the 70's or 60's.... I don't exactly remember.... but I still have the check...I mean letter..... in fact I have EVERY letter Nathalie has every sent me.... they are all SOOOO cool. Most of them are library cards (from Corder - another one Nathalie signature style) I plan to make a mini book of all the cool cards and notes my "pen pals" have sent me over the years.... most of them are from Nathalie and Linda... they (notes) are always FUN and FUNNY and artful.

here's what I found after I carefully opening the tissue paper..... a mini treasure BOX!!!

Two owls, some vintage linen from Belorussia, a GREAT pack of ribbons, ric rac, gorgeous buttons, funky fabric and all sorts of GOODIES that are sure to be found NO WHERE else but RUBYFLOY

she made the owl into a pincushion for me.... and more on the story of this amazing linen.

Since my paper crafting has taken a minor detour to "stitching" and fabric...... I plan to use this fantastic piece of linen as the foundation for a round robin, I am currently in. VB over at the CPA (christian paper artist) came up with a brilliant idea... a Round Robin Stitch Sampler. The 10 women, who are participating, will send our cloth to one other and when it's all said and done - each one of us will have had a chance to stitch on each other's cloth. One smart lady (Mardi) suggested that we pray for the person for the duration of time that we have their cloth, how wonderful, right? Since I met Nathalie over bloglandia, and later discovered she, too, was a member of the CPA, and seeing that this cloth is from her - I couldn't think of anything more wonderful than to use this as my "cloth". Keeping this cloth, super sacred, it's now part of the sisterhood of the traveling prayer cloth.....

Here is what my sampler looks like today... I plan to stitch a little birdie on it before I send it off.....the top is not really a dotted line.. it intended to add that border later.... I am hoping to make it a vine - but I want to wait and see what the finished product looks like.... so I can tie in all the colors of the sampler..... :) (holy smokes - it sounds like actually have a game plan - imagine that!!!)

the lace is also from RUBYFLOY

I am so happy to have met such loving and wonderful people out over bloglandia.... I feel blessed and all the better to have met Nathalie. She's the kind of lady that I know if we ever meet in real life... I could just be me....instantly.... flaws and all... she would love me no matter what.... she's a real gem.

Nathalie, thank you for the best pie.... ever! You are loved!! :)

love,

anna