Grow Your Blog ~ Party & Giveaway

Today I'm joining Vicki's blog 2 Bags Full, where she encourages bloggers to get to know others by a meme she is running called "Grow Your Blog" I might have missed this party in 2013 when it started but I'll be sure to be participating this year and I'll have a giveaway for February 15th, 2014. Please join in the fun, come along and share some of life's most admired. 

About Me:

Hi! I'm Cindy of Grandma's Afternoons. I've been blogging for just a little of 3 years now. I'm semi-retired working seasonally operating Grandma's Tea Room in the beautiful province of Prince Edward Island.  I'm 8 years retired from caring for seniors in the Health Care. In my free time I can be found in the garden, crafting, or taking a rewarding walk on the beach. I have 3 grown children with 6 1/2 grandchildren, 5 girly girls and one adorable grandson, and another on the way. 

About My Blog:

I have a blog identity crisis happening.  I started blogging on my B&B Wordpress blog Hats'N Hospitalitea where I talk about PEI and the amazing places to visit on the Island. I have a hobby blog at Scrap'N Wrap where I talk about my wire wrapped seaglass and scrapbooking. However, after blogging for 3 years and having 3 followers I returned to my old first time Blog "Grandma's Afternoons" where I talk about some of my favourites; gardening, tea, seaglass, scrapbooking and just soome of lifes pleasures that might bring happiness to the day. Having followers is rewarding for me, mostly I think it is because I've lived a life of giving be it work, school, children, the tea room and volunteering and sometimes hearing love is enough to keep you going along the windy road of life.

Grandma's Garden:

At my house, you are always welcome, stop in and ring the bell if no answer start pulling weeds. Gardening is the best therapeutic life there can be, next to beachcombing that might be.  In my garden I have mini fairy gardens, bottles of fairy dust about, a pond, plenty of strawberries, blueberries, concord grapes, raspberries, blackberries, currants and even a kiwi tree.  The gray days of the Winter months the pond freezes over, the snow replenishes mother earth and we take to RV-living, roaming the roads.  Here are some of my favourite flowers.

The pond and waterfall

Oh the Hens & Chicks

And oh how I love Hollyhocks, they are my favourite

Oh how about these Clematis are they beautiful?

I just love it when the Magnolia blooms

Imagine, I almost forgot about the daylilies

Oh I just love these red and purple poppies

A perfect spot to sit and look at all this

I almost forgot to mention I have a barn out back, Lori took this picture and sent it to me on FB of my croc pots.

My Fairy Park

Grandmas Tea Room:

In yesteryears all women were gifted with tea cups and saucers. All my Cousins, Aunts and Grandmas had plenty.  Then they were gifted to me. I had an inspiration to open a tea room in the front parlour of our old family farm house that seated only 4 small bistro tables and hours of fun.  In 2008 we moved into Winsloe, where the tea room and gardens are located today.

Crafting: Sea Glass and Scrapbooking

I've been rather obsessed with scrapbooking over the years and when I couldn' t find what I was looking for in supplies, as they were limited on the Island.  I started making them, building borders, and page layouts of nautical, beach and Anne of Green Gables memorabilia. 

Then by accident my hobby took a new turn and I found myself on the beach in search of seaglass. Didn't matter the colour or shape it was all so pretty, every piece made me happy, happy, happy. I realized one day that I had a shipwreck of seaglass... not really but I self taught myself to wire wrap. Now I have many pieces along with the scrapbooking designs of PEI in a little giftshop called The Island Made Gift Shop. We open during the summer months and operate less during the Winter. Here is a peek at some of my work.

I tried my hand at paperback book corsages for Victoria's wedding this past August.

Grandma's Travels:

With having one child in North Carolina most of our travels take us there.  But we have driven to other places we enjoyed and many of them were on a beachcombing at one spot or another.

Ocean floor of Hopewell Rocks, New Bruswick

Sundown along the Island River Parkway in Ottawa

Beachcombing in Nova Scotia

 Hiking on Grand Manan Island

Walking around a bay

To relaxing on a cloudy day.

Grandma's Camera:

One thing I have done a lot of in the past few years is stop to take a picture. I mean, ya sure being a scrapbooker you always have a picture taking moment that you are capturing.  But this is different, it is almost like I'm in search of something I'll never find or aquire and it is in the old houses and old barns, trees and cars of years ago that I find peace just in photographing them all. Maybe this will explain it better.

Look at the tree growing on the inside of this barns left hand side

See the same spot on the left, the tree comes out the broken barn wood and straight up to the top of the roof and along the peak.

This outbuilding could have been a curiosity shop and has seen a lot of years and storms.  Just the evidence of the tin roof shows.  The log cabin is parged with limestone Tabby, a mixture of lime and boiled oyster shells that was used years ago and lined most of the walls of a slaves quarters and made numerous roads in Vingina, and South Carolina.

Well this has been a journey and a little about my love of life.

Want to know where I keep visitor's to the Island each year? Visit here, maybe you will visit or come and stay with us.

Want to see why Grandma's Tea Room was listed with the 7 top Tea Rooms in Canada, visit here.

Are you looking for seaglass perhaps you will visit  Island Made gift shop.

Be blessed with the beauty that surrounds your day and take in the moment.

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Now! onto the good stuff ~ the Giveaway.

Seeing as I am a seaglass artisans I see no reason other than to be giving away a necklace and pendant of seaglass wirewrapped.  This giveaway seglass necklace has a retail value of $38 when sold in the shop.   These are my giveaway regulations; leave a comment on this blog post. The winner will be selected on February 15th using a random select.   I will return here and announce the winner on Feb 15. It will be up to you to give me your full mailing address.  

I'm getting excited to go around and visit your blogs. Be sure to visit Vicki the host of this blog party and by visiting her you will find the list of others to visit.  Good Luck with the giveaway.

It was so nice to have met you today, it warms my heart to know I may become your new "kindred spirit" (Anne of Green Gables) and follower.  We are RV-living, service isn't the best but I'm excited to let you know I'll be getting around to all of your blogs if it takes me a year to do it.

Thank you for visiting, 

~oo~ Grandma (Cindy