From Ronald With Love~~

Our "House that Love Built" is getting a little crowded. With the addition of pediatric oncology services, and the expected construction of a new Children's Hospital - our local Ronald McDonald House is in desperate need of additional space for families of critically ill children~~



The proceeds from this year's Charity Dance and Silent Auction will go towards finishing the upstairs of our Ronald McDonald House - providing 10 additional rooms for family use.

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Our Ronald McDonald silent auctions are always fabulous. We are known for hosting a great event with unique and diverse items in our auctions. Bidding is always furious and we raise LOTS of money for our charity.

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This year's dinner/dance was characterized with a James Bond theme. My friend Ann always has the most incredible ideas for decorating on a budget. This year the ballroom sparkled with shimmery candles and silver glitter - (it is truly amazing what you can do with a little creativity,and a whole lot of glitter!) We decorated the ballroom in red, black and white~~

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~~my handsome date~~

Our friend Bob helped with the decorations~~ he maybe got a little carried away with the placing of sequins on the glass mirrors! LOL!! He wanted to make sure that we were able to find our table in the sea of red and black!

So many creative and talented people are to thank for the success of this year's auction. I am so grateful to my blogging friends and some very generous ETSY shop owners who donated their time and talents to help me with items for our fabulous auction~~

My dear friend Patricia Eaton devoted literally hundreds of hours to the creation of these two magnificent pincushions. She hand painted the fabric - then painstakingly embroidered the birds and scenery. THEN - she embellished the entire pin cushion with her gorgeous bead work around all the edges. Unbelievable~~

(click on the photos to see the incredible detail in her work!)

I cannot even begin to imagine the time and detail that Pat devoted to these stunning creations. And then - after ALL that work - she donated one to the Ronald auction and gave the other one as a gift to ME!!

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My deepest heartfelt thanks to Pat - a treasured friend and talented artist whose generous heart has helped to make such a difference to our families.

You can visit Pat at her beautiful blog here. Prepare to be blown away by the photos of her quilts and needlework as she beautifully highlights her incredible creations. Pat is a published author of 5 books on quilt making ~~ her quilting masterpieces are on display in both public and private collections all across the country.

(Bless you dear Pat. I am so very grateful for your remarkable talents and generosity. I treasure my special gift more than you will ever know. My Mother was a quilter also - she was passionate about her quilting and was a collector of fabrics and notions for years and years. She was a huge fan of your instructional books - I would give anything if she were alive today to know that we have become such friends and to see your amazing creations~~)

My friend Andria has created another one of her stunning sea glass necklaces. Crafted from the sea glass that I brought home from Bermuda - this necklace is drop dead gorgeous! Andria's talents are amazing - and her heart is full of giving~~ after creating this unbelievable necklace - she gave it to me for the auction.

Is this not just "out of this world" beautiful?

You can visit my friend Andria at her ETSY shop HERE. If you have sea glass treasures of your own- she will be happy to design something special for you~

(You know I love you Andria - thank you so much, again, for your beautiful creation and your willingness to always help me with this charity! My dear friend Jan bought your necklace and I know that she is absolutely overjoyed to have won this amazing piece made by your talented hands!)

I am always amazed that such beautiful jewelry can be made from plain old MUD!! Jannett makes the most magnificent ceramic creations in her little studio in the woods~~

She created this beautiful necklace and earrings specially for our auction - the design is stunning - and the colors are so absolutely lovely. I fell in love with this jewelry set instantly when I saw it - and so did our bidders at the auction! I spoke with the lady who took this beautiful set home and she was SO excited to win the bid for this treasure!

Seriously - are these not fabulous? You can find Jannett's ceramic creations beautifully displayed in her ETSY shop HERE~~~ and you can visit her beautiful website HERE.

(Thank you Jannett for your charitable participation in our Ronald McDonald auction. Your creations are beyond beautiful ~ I am a perfect stranger to you and yet you reached out to help me without fail when I asked. I appreciate you so very much - thank you from the bottom of my heart.)

Leslieanne has an amazing talent for knitting semi-precious gemstones and beautiful Czech glass beads into her stunning jewelry collections. When I first saw her creations - I was totally blown away!

This gorgeous necklace and bracelet set literally "stole the show" at our recent charity auction. You can view Leslieanne's other beautiful creations at her ETSY shop HERE. Her designs are so unique - honestly - I want one in every color!

( Thank you Leslieanne for your gracious and generous willingness to participate in our Charity auction. You, also, did not know me - and that you would reach out to help a stranger for this worthwhile charity is so commendable. I cannot thank you enough - I appreciate your kindness more than you ever know - and I will be back for more purchases - I absolutely LOVE your designs!!)

Kylie Parry is THE most imaginative ceramic artist! She uses earthy, soft hued glazes to accent her beautiful creations. Some of her creations are made using sepia decals from vintage dictionary illustrations. Kylie is inspired by nature and she loves the beautiful tones of the color aqua~~ (me too!)

I have long admired Kylie's creations and was overjoyed when she graciously agreed to submit one of her beautiful jewelry pieces for our auction. Kylie made this fabulous bird necklace specially for our auction and donated it for our worthy cause. You can visit Kylie at her ETSY shop HERE. I just have to say - I am in love with everything she makes!

(Kylie - you have been so very generous to help me with this cause. I appreciate your talents and your giving spirit - your creations are so wonderful - I LOVE those little birds!! Your little necklace was one of the favorites at the auction - I wish you could have seen the lady who took this home - she was thrilled! )

Who doesn't love to curl up with a good book? Do you appreciate honest, non-biased book reviews before you make your book selections? My friend Esme is a professional book critic who provides reviews of all kinds of books on her beautiful blog - Chocolate and Crossants. Esme loves to travel and her blog often incorporates her travel photos, culture, and culinary selections with her book reviews. She loves Paris ~~(sigh~~) - and her travel photos from her visits there will leave you longing for a trip to the City of Love.

Esme donated a wonderful selection of books for our auction table - a most definate favorite among the bidders! (Who does not love to read?) I admire Esme's book reviews because they are always honest and straight forward - if she does not like the book - she will tell you so~~be sure to vist the Animal Rescue site on her sidebar and help her to "feed the kitties". She is helping to support the care of hungry and homeless kitties - that's just the kind of person she is~~
(Thank you my dear and treasured friend - I am so very grateful for your help! Give Miss Penelope a hug from me! xoxo~)

Esme and I are both lovers of our kitties. This is a photo of her precious kitty babies Penelope and Magellan.

My friend Suzie (who does NOT have a blog or ETSY shop - but should have!!) is a uniquely talented artist. Suzie is always the first to offer to help me with any project that I have in the works. She has created beautiful tags and tissue papers for my "nesting projects" in the past - (you will see some more of her lovely creations when the Twinkle,Twinkle nest comes out soon~~)

Suzie was challenged to design an original collage for our auction - and the end result was fabulous! Honestly - I loved this so much that I hated to part with it! She incorporated the use of a variety of unusual objects - displaying them creatively on a background of corrigated cardboard.

Suzie is a non-stop creative whirl of imagination. She never ceases to amaze me with the things that she creates. This collage is "to die for" - and it was hugely popular at our silent auction.

Can you even imagine the amount of work that went into this design? You have outdone yourself my friend! Simply amazing!!

Suzie is famous for her beautifully designed note cards. She is a card creator extradordinare!! She designed a collection for our silent auction that was absolutely gorgeous~~

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Suzie's cards are highly prized for their beauty and originality - (I own several and love to send them to my friends.) If you would like a beautiful card selection for a special occasion - Suzie would be happy to create something for you. She also specializes in creating original scrapbook designs for her many clients. She is available by email at kosec@sbcglobal.net.

(Thank you my friend for your talented submissions to our charity auction. You KNOW I love you!! I appreciate that you have supported me in every little cause that I champion. You are the greatest of designers and you need to get your own shop!! xoxo~~)

If you have ever tried to purchase a piece of Julie Whitmore's pottery - you know how hard it is to come by! Julie's style of pottery design is uniquely her's and her creations are highly coveted! When she places a piece for sale in her ETSY shop - it is GONE!!

Julie created a fabulous - CHIC- "anthropology inspired" necklace for our auction. I DID NOT want to part with this beautiful necklace - (Julie please make me another one!!) The lady who took this home was SO excited (and I was green with envy!) I don't just admire Julie's pottery - I LOVE it!

You can visit Julie's ETSY shop HERE. This is one of my most treasured pieces of her pottery - she made it for me this spring and I absolutely LOVE it! You can visit Julie at her beautiful blog HERE where she shares wonderful stories about her creations.

I just have to share these - I am in love with the beautiful spoons that Julie makes - I would die for a collection like this!

Julie embellishes her beautiful pottery with her special style of painting. Recently she created a honey pot for me to give as a gift to a dear friend who is retiring after 4o years of serving as a physician - taking care of tiny babies. I wanted his gift to be something very special~~

Gil and his wife live on a beautiful farm - where he plans to spend his retirement working his gardens and taking care of his honeybees. Julie's paintings on this honey pot were just perfect for this special gift - (love the holly hocks and the bee skep!)

( Thank you Julie for your talented creations - for helping with our Charity auction and for creating this beautiful special gift for my dear friend. I love your pottery SO much! xoxo~)

I have been privileged to serve on the Board of Directors for our Huntington area Ronald McDonald House for several years now. I know first hand that it takes the dedicated efforts of many, many people to put together an event such as our dinner/dance/auction.

Thanks to Ann for her continuous stream of creative decorating ideas~ to my dear friend Bob for climbing on ladders and helping me with the decorations (your name WILL be printed on the Program next year - LOL!!), to Cathy for her great efforts in organizing the silent auction, and to our dear sweet Margaret - our new House Director- who devotes incredible time and energies into making our Ronald McDonald House a home for so many needy families.

Thanks to my friends for their contributions to the auctions - your efforts helped to make our night a HUGE success. Soon - very soon - our "House that Love Built" will be getting a little bigger~~

Vicki