**The French Cupboard's Altered Art Party**

 Hey all, I just came across The French Cupboard's Altered Art Party and since I've been creating for my Etsy shop, I thought I'd join in the fun!

I hope you'll enjoy!

This is my vintage jar of treasures called "La Danse Francaise".

It's filled with vintage sheet music, with a fabulous vintage image of a french dancer and topped off with a vintage hand dyed millinery rose pin.

This garland is made with vintage ephemera rosettes and strung on vintage silvery gray seam binding.

Next is one of my favorite necklace designs called 

"Key to my vintage heart".

I designed this with vintage pearls and a fabulous old scrolled skeleton key.

I hope you all enjoyed my version of altered art and please check out the other creative ladies a the French Cupboard!

Happy Friday!

Sincerely,

~Melinda

**La Vie En Rose**

Good morning all, I hope I find you well and enjoying your Summer.

I felt a bit creative last night and made this:

La Vie En Rose vintage paper garland hung on vintage silvery gray seam binding. 

It's for sale in my Etsy shop!

In other news, I will finally be moving towards the end of August! YEA!!!!! We got a place and will be heading out soon.

Thanks so much to everyone for your well wishes and prayers for my family to be re-united, I know it helped.

Have a great day.

Sincerely,

~Melinda

**Sweet Surprise**

Hey everyone, I hope I find you well!

I woke up this morning and logged on to my blog and found such a sweet surprise!

A little message from

Faerwillow at **Serendipity** 

telling me she had something special for me on her blog.

To my surprise it was this:

This sweet and lovely award!

She actually said that my blog...

 "is exploding with talent and inspires me".

 

No one has ever said that to me, it truly touched my heart and made my day!

Thank you Faerwillow!!!

Here are the rules in accepting this noteworthy award:

 

~ Thank the one who sent it your way

~ Sum up your blogging motivation, philosophy, and experience using 5 words

~ Pass it on to 5 others whose blogs you feel have real substance{Sorry, but I am only choosing 4 for now}

Okay, here goes...

*Thank you so much for this touching award, your kindness and your words are so appreciated!

*5 words of blogging motivation, philosophy, and experience:

~Vintage 

~Beauty reflected in imperfection

~Inspire

~Friendship

~Welcoming

*And last but not least, 5 blogs that truly inspire me and have tons of talent and substance:

1. Amy from Mittens

This girl rocks in the talent and creativity department!!

She truly inspires me to create and keeps me motivated everyday! And of course she is super sweet and lovely!!

 

2. Michelle from Petite Michelle Loiuse.

This lady is so fabulously talented and so warm and kind! I have never known a person that has so much compassion and warmth in every ounce of their being!

She is truly inspiring to me!!

 

3. Theresa from 612 Riverside.

This lady is just so lovely and has such a fantastic heart and spirit! She is also amazingly talented and always has such spectacular words of encouragement for everyone!

4. Janis from Rust and Ruffles.

This lady is so lovely and kind!! She has such a fantastic eye for staging beautiful vignettes for her photos. She is also so encouraging with her words and always has something kind and uplifting to say!

Okay so there they are, 4 lovely ladies that truly inspire me everyday, Thank You so much Faerwillow!!

Have a great day.

Sincerely,

~Melinda

**Day Trip**

Hey all, I hope everyone's well and having a great week. I just thought I would share a couple of photos from a day trip my kids and I took on Saturday to Yosemite National Park.

Yosemite is one of the most beautiful and astounding places on Earth to me. The views are absolutely breathtaking!!

This is the view of Half Dome from Glacier Point which is about 7000-8000 feet high.
Can you believe people actually climb Half dome?!!

Another view from Glacier Point of the spectacular waterfalls.

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to for a few reasons:

It was HOT!

Kids and Grandma were cranky, therefore it made momma cranky!!

Enough said!!! 

On another note, I listed some new goodies in both of my Etsy stores, so if you get a chance, check it out.

Have a great day.

Sincerely,

~Melinda

**Inspiration**

Hello to all of my lovely blogger friends out there, I hope your staying cool in this hot, hot weather! Hubby was here the past couple of days and it was so lovely to have him here and to be a family again. We went out and I found some fabulous new treasures for my jewelry designs. I finally created something I'm pretty happy with, of course it helps when my hubby is here, he is my inspiration!!! Hopefully, if all goes well, we'll be moving in August sometime. Please say a little prayer for us to be re-united.

Here's my new design:

"Bliss" Necklace

I found these great new glass beads and these fabulous vintage Ethiopian prayer beads on my buying trip. I just love it!

I got a lot of gorgeous beads and gemstones including vintage vaseline glass beads that are amazing. Those might take a little more creativity on my part to figure out how to put them in a new design. We'll see.

Have a great night!

Sincerely,

~Melinda 

  

**New Design**

Hey everyone, I hope I find you all well!

I just designed a new necklace and it wasn't easy! I think I'm in a design rut! Think? I know I'm in a design rut! Please tell me what you honestly think, I'm not sure if it's just my husband and son being nice and telling me my jewelry is great or if it really will appeal to people other than my family.

Does everyone go through this when designing their goods? ~Am I really good, or I am delusional?

I also need a new name for this necklace, if you have any ideas please send it forth, I would greatly appreciate it.

Oh and by the way, I think Etsy is a very dangerous place, especially when your a feeling a bit down and blue. In the next post, I'll show you all of my purchases I've made in the past 2 weeks that I've been a shopkeeper. I should change shopkeeper to purchaser.

Have a great week!!

Sincerely,

~Melinda

**Free Shipping!!**

Hey all, I hope I find you all well and enjoying your weekend. I just wanted to thank everyone who left me a comment on my last post, your support means the world to me, especially right now!!

To say thank you, I am offering free shipping at my etsy jewelry shop~alabasterrosedesigns.etsy.com, and if you mention to me that you saw this post, I will also give you 10% off your total purchase!!

So stop by and check it out!

I also made some new things for my vintage shop, 88bellavintage.etsy.com, using vintage elements.

 Set of 2 vintage gift tags using all vintage elements ~

$5.50

  Have a fabulous weekend!

Sincerely,

~Melinda

**A Question...**

I have a question...

Have you ever had someone take themselves off of your follower list? 

For months your chit-chatting back and forth and then all of the sudden one day... their gone! They even remove your blog from their favorite blog list.

What happened? Was it something you said or didn't say?

Well, this recently happened to me and I can't help but wonder what I did wrong. Maybe I didn't visit as much or didn't say the right thing on their comments. I feel just awful!! I am truly sorry to all of you lately if I haven't visited as much as I would like to. I am having a really difficult time right now in my life, which I know happens to all of us, but I'm feeling a bit lost and sometimes it's hard for me talk about it. 

Just please know how much you all mean to me and that your comments truly brighten my day! Without my blog and all of you, I believe I would be having a more difficult time then I already am.  I am trying to keep busy, so I'm throwing myself into creating for my Etsy shops, and spending lots of time with my kiddos. So please forgive me for being a bad blogger friend, once I get my family all back together, I know things will look up. When this will be, I don't know, but I'm praying that it will be soon.

Thanks to everyone for their sweet words and support!!

Bless all of you!!!

Sincerely,

Melinda

*In Love And White Wednesday**

 Hey all, I just had to show you what I ordered a couple of days ago.

When I opened up the package this is what was waiting for me inside, I was in shock!

Aren't these little packages adorable?!!! This isn't even my order. This is just the packaging. Can you believe it?

This talented lady used dictionary pages and sewed them together topped off with handmade fabric tags sewn onto the little package. I loved it so much I couldn't bring myself to open them up.

This is what was inside once I finally removed a small strip of paper off of the bottom:

 Gorgeous handmade pillows with very special dates on them.

1993~My wedding date.

2004~My Jayden's birthday.

2008~My little Jack's birthday.

This talented amazing gal is Amy from the fabulous blog Mittens.

She also makes fabulous  crocheted hats and other wonderful handmade goods. And, she's sweet as heck! She also does custom orders!!

Check out her 2 Etsy shops:

http://www.mittens.etsy.com

and http://www. vintagemarketplace.etsy.com 

I know you will love her beautiful treasures as much as I do!!
I had to show off my new treasures for White Wednesday, so check out the other participants at Faded Charm. 
Talk to you all soon.

Sincerely,

~Melinda

**New Etsy Shop And Some New Treasures**

Hey everyone, I hope your having a lovely Monday. I just wanted to let everyone know that I decided to create another Etsy shop for my vintage and handcrafted vintage items. It's called 88 Bella Vintage.

www.88bellavintage.etsy.com

I only have a couple of things listed right now, but I will be adding more in the next few days so if you have a chance, check it out.

Here's a few vintage items I recently picked up while antiquing:
 

Pretty purple hydrangeas in an old scoop.

I found this scoop at an antiques store yesterday. I loved the pale blue patina on it.

I just got this fabulous vintage suitcase. It has the initials M.E.G. on it.

Talk to you all soon.
Have a great week.
Sincerely,
~Melinda

 

**New Handcrafted Items By Alabaster Rose Designs**

Hey everyone, I hope your all enjoying your weekend and trying to stay cool! Its been hot here, 102 yesterday! I know I've been a bit absent from blogging lately, I've just been busy working with my new etsy shop. I decided to add a few of my handcrafted wreaths and ornaments to my shop to see how they do. I already sold one of my ornaments. {yea} I can't decide if I want 2 separate shops, one for my jewelry and one for vintage items, let me know what you think.

Here's what I just made for the shop today:

Made with vintage children's clothing and a vintage rhinestone pin.

Vintage sheet music ornament with vintage rhinestone earring center.

Oh my goodness, I just realized that this is my 100th post! I can't believe I've written that many. I just might have to have another giveaway soon! I'll keep you posted.

Have a great day.

Sincerely,

~Melinda

***Love These Products***

I was so excited yesterday when I went to Target and found a product that I use to get from William Sonoma along time ago. WS no longer carried this product and I was so bummed when I couldn't find it anymore.

It's by Caldrea and the scent is Olive Oil with essential oils of corriander and cedarleaf. The smell of the kitchen counter spray is so yummy and makes your whole kitchen smell like summer! I also bought the hand balm and the hand soap. Check it out if your not already familiar with it, I know you'll love it.

 **{Just a quick note, all necklace designs' in my Etsy shop are 10% off until Monday July 12th. So please stop by and check them out. I will also be offering free gift wrap with purchase soon. I just bought some awesome stuff to make the gift wrap really special!!}**

I will also be opening a vintage shop on Etsy soon, I have a ton of stuff left over from when I had my own antiques space.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Sincerely,

Melinda

**Etsy, I'm There!!**

Etsy Shop Now Open!!!

 Oh my goodness! I finally did it! I'm an Etsy shopkeeper now! I even set up Pay Pal, can you believe it? You have to know, this is huge for me!! I have a few things listed right now and will be listing other designs over the next few days, so please stop by and take a look.

alabasterrosedesigns@etsy.com

I hope everyone had a great Monday!

Sincerely,

Melinda

**French Larkspur's 1 Year Anniversary Giveaway**

{photo by Dreamy Whites}

Hey all, I really hoped you enjoyed your 4th yesterday. Mine was quiet but really nice.

I just wanted to let you all know about Tracey from French Larkspur's 1 year blog-a-versary giveaway. It is fabulous!! All of the amazing items that she is gifting comes from Maria over at Dreamy Whites, so you know it's good!

Stop by French Larkspur and enter to win by midnight July 10th. The winner will be announced on Sunday July 11th. 

Good Luck to everyone!! 

{photo by Dreamy Whites}

**Vintage Designs**

"Key To My Vintage Heart"

Necklace

"Glory Divine"

Bracelet

Happy Friday!!
Sincerely,
~Melinda