Birthday Treats for me

As many of you know, I recently celebrated my first birthday in our new home in Maine.  I wanted to share with you a few treats I received that day.

The first was this wonderful birthday / house warming gift from a dear friend.  Ann commissioned Carolee Clark of King of Mice Studios to create this for me.

It's our new house!  

Right down to the brick walkway and lamppost.  

I of course very much appreciated that the scene is a Winter one.

  Ah yes, they know me well. 

The second treat that day was a two hour cruise on the

 Schooner Olad out of Camden harbor.  

I was not quite ready for the highly slanted journey, 

but soon learned the the up side of a boat 

is a good thing. 

You can see the angle of the boat as opposed to the horizon.

  Thanks to Mr. Cobblestone for taking pics that day.  

I was too busy trying to not fall off!  

I am looking forward to going out with Captain Aaron again ~ 

perhaps on one of their full moon trips.  

It sounds simply lovely. . . .

And the winner is . . .

Entry number 88.

Congratulations to Elsie!!

Thank-you to everyone who entered the giveaway.  

Stay tuned ~ there is sure to be another soon.

Giveaway! 3 Days Only!!!

To celebrate our relocation to Maine, I'm having a  
giveaway in conjunction with the current 
Online Teddy Bear Show at 
Bear Hugs 4 U.  

This will be a quickie giveaway 
with the winner being announced 
Monday July 16th!  

In order to have a chance to win this dapper mouse 
in his black silk tuxedo and top hat, simply:

* click here to visit the show, 

* click on through to the Cobblestone Creations page. 

(that link is on the top row of the show page)

* Find the snowman on the Cobblestone Creations page 

and 

* then click here to email me telling me 

who is standing next to the snowman.  

If that link isn't working for your browser  ~ you certainly may email your answer to me at 

That's it!  

On Monday, I'll use a random number generator 
to choose the winner.

I do hope you will take the time to visit the other artists taking part in the show.  There are some lovely things available to brighten your holidays.

Good Luck and Enjoy the Show!!! 

Online "Christmas in July" Teddy Bear Show

You won't want to miss this fabulous show!

Many darling Wintry Friends are sure to prompt thoughts of wonderfully cool Winter holidays to help you fight the current heat wave.

Friday July 13 at 8:00am 
until Sunday July 15 at 8:00pm 
(eastern time zone) 
at

www.BearHugs4U.com



See one-of-a-kind teddy bears and friends 
created by a select group 
of talented and well known artists. 
Preview bears from each artist are pictured 
on the site right now so pop on over for a look.

These will be the first new Cobblestone Creations 
mice and bears available since my move to Maine.

Olad is one the the bears I will have available.  
I also have two other bears in the show 
along with five cute little mice, 
all in a holiday theme.
Be sure to shop early in order to snap up 

the one that tugs at your heart. 

http://www.bearhugs4u.com/

Details for my giveaway coming soon!
It too will begin Friday July 13th at 8am.

Our New Home

As you can well imagine, the past few weeks have been quite busy for Mr. Cobblestone and me as we have been moving into our new home in Maine.  It has been quite the adventure and we are both simply thrilled that we decided to take this leap into a new life. 

I've decided to take a short break from unpacking boxes (and boxes and boxes) to post a few pics for you.   Our home is a darling two story cape, only 1 mile from the harbor.

These pics are the ones from the real estate listing when the home was for sale.  The previous owners took all their furnishings, of course, but the pics will give you some idea of what the house looks like.  

We are located on a beautiful wooded lot 

that measures just under 2 acres.

 

It has a great wrap around deck,

 and a large living room and kitchen.

 There are two more bedrooms upstairs.  

The larger one has been turned into Mr. Cobblestone's office.

 And this precious space is now being converted into my studio.  

I will be sure to share pics when it is finished.

 We've already been hard at work making changes to the home to make it ours.  The first changes were to the family room.  We removed an over sized shelving unit to give the fireplace its proper status in the room.  And we removed that hideous wood-burner insert to expose the brick hearth. 

 Ah yes, much better!

There is still a lot of laura-ing to be done to the house

to bring it up to my decorating standards, 

(hey, you saw my other house),

but I'm sure we will enjoy the process.

Stay tuned ~ I'm in the mood for a mouse giveaway!!!!

The Bean House

Perhaps I mentioned here earlier that one of the challenges during  our move to Maine has been in securing temporary housing while we are both selling our home in WI and purchasing our new home here in Maine.  For the month of June, we have been quite fortunate to have an apartment at The Bean House in downtown Camden.

THE BEAN HOUSE

Aside from it being an extraordinary lovely old Victorian house, it has a special place in our hearts because it is so very close to the place where we first fell in love with this region.

Back on that cold blustery October day when Mr. Cobblestone and I were strolling the main street in Camden, I experienced that maybe-I-shouldn't-have-had last-cup-of-coffee-this-morning feeling.  Yep ~ I had to pee.   

Remembering a conversation I had with a volunteer at an information center the day before about how when she and her husband were sailing the coast, she found libraries to be very nice "ports in a storm" during rainy days. 

CAMDEN LIBRARY

I spied the Camden Library at the top of the little hill at the end of the street of shops and headed that way to check out the restrooms.   They were of course as far away from the front door  where we entered ~ down the stairs and tucked into a corner.  But they were there!

The library itself was darling and a lot larger than it appeared from the top street.  Its bulletin boards were filled with community activities and events.  Camden appeared to be quite a vibrant little town.  But the kicker was the view when you exited ~ the view of the harbor and adjoining amphitheater! 

HARBOR 

AMPHITHEATER

It was one of those times you felt as if you've stumbled onto 

a movie set!  Could such a place be real?!!!   

(Actually, Camden was the location of a famous movie from 

the 50's ~ but more on that in a later post.)

So what does this have to do with the Bean House?  Well, it's right across the street from the library!  Literally just steps away from those gorgeous views. 

THE BEAN HOUSE SEEN FROM THE LIBRARY 

 THE LIBRARY SEEN FROM THE BEAN HOUSE

I plan on walking over whenever I get the chance to park myself on one of the benches on the library lawn and gaze at this as often as I can.

Before we leave this apartment, I am determined to count just how many exit doors this house has!  ;)