...and the sky is the limit. I went shopping this past Friday to pick up some fabrics and such. I want to be fully stocked when my studio is completed so that I can get right to work on a bunch of new ideas I have.


I am very excited about each and every one of these fabric designs. Hopefully I will get to post the finished product of their wonderfulness sometime in the next week or so. No promises, but I am hoping.

I also got in my button order that I placed earlier this week. Such lovely and exciting possibilities with so many wonderful colors. I am sooooo excited! I wasn't sure about these when I ordered them...but the selections and diversity I got are exactly what I was hoping for.

And of course I looked super cute. This whole outfit cost less then $15. I am thrifty with the best of them. Don't you doubt it. ;)
Blouse: $3
Skirt: $3
Tights: $.50
Shoes: $3.50
Bracelet: $1
How do I do this? I haunt clearance racks and dollar stores and make a weekly visit to the thrift store. Finding ridiculously cute stuff at a ridiculously low price is one of my guilty pleasures.

Jonathon bought me this adorable bird paper cutter. He said he thought I "could use it on my Happy Mail stuff". I love him so! I have many ideas involving this little apparatus already! Some involving his intended purpose...but many BEYOND that. Can't wait.

I already played around with an idea involving the little paper bird cut-outs and messed it around in Photoshop for a bit. Can't wait to do more.

So while I was outside shooting photos for the blog I was lucky enough to capture a shot of one of the two woodpeckers that knock-knock-knock the trees surrounding the house. Too cool.
Well. That's all I have for tonight. I am off from my day job for the next two days so I am looking forward to having a good chunk of time to be crafty...much like a fox. Maybe I'll just be foxy. We shall see.
Ciao for now.
Get outside and go have some fun!
Renea Hanna
Penny Threads.
P.S. If you just CAN'T get enough of me, stalk me here:
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...and I'm loving it! I apologize now for those of you that live in areas where winter is still raging. Hopefully you will find hope in Spring's bounty happening elsewhere. So with that...

The honey bees on my family's ranch are already hard at work. Their legs were bulging with pollen and this pear tree was just a-buzz with the constant sound of their business. It was enchanting.

The air was so thick with the perfume of these. It was so strong that I could smell this tree 100 feet away.

Spring is a showoff. It is gaudy and loud. It is the sort of person that laughs obnoxiously loud in public and wears the BRIGHTEST outfits. Spring pushes the limits and yet it is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.
Spring knows it too.
Hope y'all are ready for the show. It's gonna be a good one. ;)
Ciao for now.
Renea Hanna
Penny Threads.
P.S. Stay tuned for a post this evening with new fabrics and fun stuff I'm gearing up to use in a shop overhaul once my studio's complete. Get outside and do something silly! Ciao.

...was so BEAUTIFUL! As soon as I drove up I saw Jonathon, Carin and Rose (his two littlest sisters) flying kites! It has been too long since I flew a kite...but it came back to me like riding a bicycle.

Jonathon and I helped Rose and Carin keep them in the air, gave them some pointers and untangled them when they wound 'round eachother in the sky.

At one point two jets flew by real low and banked to the right as if to say hello. They must have seen our kites way up there in the sky. They routinely fly training runs over the Texas Hill Country so a part of growing up here is watching for the jets as you hear their roar ripping through the sky.
Then the JenJen and her mum got back from a Ladies' Picnic held at a neighbors and JenJen joined in. We were all kite-flying-fools.

I snapped some pics of Rose and Carin, the youngest of the McDonalds. They are the cutest girls you will ever meet. No kidding. They are such huge fans of Michael Jackson that they even staged a whole montage of his songs and did his dance moves one night when Laura of VioletBella came out to their family's ranch. Ask her...she'll tell you. They were so into it.

Rose

Carin

Have you tried the new Shiner beer? It's a Czech Style Pilsner. Delicious!

And here's some pretty pics...

I am loving the low lighting effects of indoor chandeliers and fixtures. Expect to see more of these.

Can't wait for full blown Spring. It's peekin' 'round the corner. Spring puts a HUGE smile on my face.

And that's all I've got for tonight. I hope your week has gone well so far and that it ends even better. Ciao for now.
Renea Hanna.
Penny Threads.
P.S. If you haven't added me yet I haunt some other well known sites as well:
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Fridays I usually go to the local wine bar here in town, Mulberry's Wine & Cheese Bar. My boyfriend works as the cook there and he likes it if show up and hang there to keep him company when he takes his breaks. Though, I get to drink wine too, so that's another reason I make Friday evenings my wine day. It's quite a beautiful place to relax and sip on a glass of wine, nibble at some cheese and bread and grapes or have a full on meal with their fantastic selection of paninis. I played around with my camera a little bit here and I am pleased with how I'm learning to handle this little apparatus.

This is a skewed perspective shot of a bottle of Salmon Creek White Zinfandel.

This is a pretty popular wine, however not one that I drink. I drink White Zin when I'm looking for something cheap to drink at home. This one is quite good but there are many more whites and reds that I prefer to drink and pay for.
I am quite enamored with the women's restroom there and I snapped these two lovely photos below in there. I am quite excited with the way they turned out and they will be in my new Etsy Photo Shop as well.

If you like them keep your eye out for my new shop anouncement coming soon! I hope to have my photo shop on Etsy up and running by April. Please feel free to give me some positive criticism as I'm really new to this photography thing. ;) I'd love that!

Alright. That's all for tonight. I took some more photos today but I am finding that I am running a few days behind on editing them. Now I know what the JenJen must go through when she does her 365 on LiveJournal. Though minor comparatively I'm sure.
Ciao for now you lovely faces!
Renea Hanna
Penny Threads.

The moment you have all been waiting for...the Winner of my Giveaway!

The names were written according to how many entries each person had.

Placed inside my favorite lil' tin box of all. Shaken, not stirred.

And then one lucky person's name was drawn...

Congratulations to Danielle! Please send me an email at pennythreads {at} gmail {dot} com letting me know which print from my shop you would like along with your mailing address.
Thank you again to EVERYONE who participated and don't lose heart...I will be having another giveaway soon and there will be more chances to win. I love you all!
* * *
Also, I will be opening up a photo shop on Etsy soon with prints of some of my photos very soon. Stay tuned for that! There will be a giveaway next month for that. These two rose pictures will be available there, perhaps even as greeting cards. Not sure yet.

I'm so excited about these two. They make me smile and I hope they make you smile as well.

And another photo for fun. I really love sunbursts so I have been playing around with that.

Alrighty. That's all I have for today. Later this week look out for some more photo-filled posts and some sneak peeks at my new photo shop. Ciao for now and congrats again to Danielle!
Renea Hanna
Penny Threads.
P.S. If you haven't already, add me on:
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So...as promised, here are some pics of the day Laura and I spent working on my studio. I had been there earlier bringing some totes of my stuff in from the shed where they'd been stored and I decided to snap some pics of my mum's lovely African Violets.

She actually LOVES plants and has the most successful green thumb I've ever seen! She's the sort of person that buys dying plants from the garden center just to save them. She already had a bunch of seed pods out ready for planting this spring.

I had some errands to run in town and some paint to pick up so Laura and I met up at True Value and then she followed me out to studio, which is on my family's ranch. We set to work, Laura painting and me putting together a bookshelf and unpacking totes. I did stop at the thrift store for a quick browsing and found these three items which were PERFECT additions to my decor.



This little typewriter planter was a MUST have! It says, "Now is the time for all good." So appropriate and super cute.
The building was originally an aviary used for birds of all kinds that my parents hand raised for awhile, so there is sheet metal running around the bottom half of the room that they had installed for easy cleaning. I like how it's almost like wainscoting. Laura painted that a lovely light turquoise that I had selected.

Here are some snapshots of bits and pieces of it coming together.

Laura commented that as long as she'd known me she had never known my "style" fully until she saw the items I had in this room. That makes me happy.

I have always thought it important to have a distinctive style, though pinning one down, as I'm sure you're all aware, can be quite hard and is actually a continual process of change and refinement. That said, I am getting there and I feel that this space will better help me keep a certain direction and influence where my creations are concerned.

One immediate goal of mine is to significantly increase my fabric collection. It has much to be desired at the moment.

Laura helped me put this lovely fabric from some pillow cases I found at the thrift store in some embroidery hoops for wall hangings. I really LOVE the way they look.

I love the look of the lace in these bowls. Got it all for a steal. I'm such a bargain hound it's ridiculous sometimes.


I also love putting leaves in these bowls. I have used the leaves in a couple of my paintings and have many more plans for them.

After getting some things done and feeling accomplished enough for the day, Laura and I stopped for a photo walk. And it turns out this location is fraught with photographic possibilities.

These old tin buildings are PERFECT for backdrops and photo shoots. I have told Laura she is welcome to come shoot any of her products out there at ANY time.

And there was a China Berry Tree in the vicinity that I can't wait to photograph more of all year long. I think they're just gorgeous!

I've never known what the plant below is (if anyone knows would you PLEASE tell me?) but I have always thought these berries it produces to be just lovely and the perfect shade of yellow.

After taking some pictures Laura surprised me with the most amazing and personal gift ever! She made this bag for me and hand-embroidered Penny Threads onto it! It's my favorite color orange of course. Do you see what I mean about these tin buildings being excellent backdrops?

This bag is so perfect! I told Laura she should definitely make more and offer them in her shop, VioletBella.

I also LOVE these fabric tags that she attaches to her clothing and such. They are beautiful and simple.

After gushing on and on about this super-duper wonderful bag that she made for me we sat down so she could show me a binder she has full of inspiration and goal setting.

I LOVED what she had to say about everything in there and have decided to do something similar. It's pretty amazing to have someone in your life that you can actually call a role model. She is that for me. What she's doing and how she's doing it...I admire it all. And Laura has done much to help me in that direction. If you know her I'm sure you will agree with me in saying that she's a pretty amazing woman. If you don't know her, go check out her inspiring and beautiful BLOG.
I thank all of you for sitting through this LONG post and looking at all my photos. I am sure that eventually I will tire of posting so many pictures and such, but for now, bear with me. I am really enjoying having the ability to share a peek of my life with all of you.
Ciao for now you wonderful humans!
Renea Hanna
Penny Threads.
P.S. Stay tuned for another photo filled post tomorrow as well as the announcement of the GIVEAWAY WINNER! Drawing takes place tomorrow during the day so y'all keep your fingers crossed and good luck!