Party Like It's 2011

With daddy on his way home from a golf trip
the Chloe and I are partying by ourselves until he arrives.
We hit Carrabba's for an early dinner
we are both stuffed with bread...you know the kind you dip in the olive oil with the spices...yum.

No party is complete without a little dancing

Chloe begged me to pull out DJ Kool...Let Me Clear My Throat

certainly not the kind of music I allow her to listen to, well ever.... but it does have a great beat

and she wanted to get down.... it only took her hearing it once a while back on the 80's channel in the car to know she like it.

So I obliged.
Just this once.

She has never been up for the new year...you know the ball drop the hugging the kissing and all that.

This will be her first year, she has heard mention of the ball drop on TV....hope she is not disappointed, I think she is expecting some sort of explosion or something the way she keeps talking about "THE BALL DROP...PKKKEewwwwwWWW"(that was an explosion sound effect.)

Alright...so party ya'll and ring her in good. Later this week I'll recap 2010 for ya's since I was a non-blogger for most of it

have a happy day

Chillaxin

We laid low yesterday
real low.
It's nice once in a while to do a whole lot of nothing. We watched Toy Story 3 and Legend of the Guardians The Owls of Ga'Hoole while snuggled in our blankets.
The weenie dogs took turns burrowing in beside us., they love when we pull out blankets and sit still for a couple of hours.

We snacked on this dip and a whole bag of Christmas Sour Patch Kids....love these, they are only green and red I dislike the yellow and orange...so yay !!!

Then in an effort to do al lil' something we doodled at bit with the oil pastels.

I finished up a custom order and then it was back to the blankets and movies....and probably the dip too.

have a happy day

Colors of Love Garland Tutorial

Don't just pretty up your mantle at Christmas
Valentine's Day is a lovely excuse to doll that plain ole' mantle up one more time.
I'm going to show you just the way.
This tutorial is for my newest Valentine item the Colors of Love Garland
and it's very pretty, it's very simple and it makes use of gently used paper bags....earth friendly. So get you a stack of paper bags and smooth those babies out.
Make yourself a heart template so all your hearts will be the same and trace that all over your bag....careful not to trace on the seams where the bag is glued.
Make use of your whole bag, either take it apart or cut thru both sides at once. Don't waste any.
Oh and...you can use fast food bags too when you begin to put this together you can just turn the printed side in.

Take 2 of your hearts and turn the printed or most wrinkled or ugliest sides in.

Sew them together.

I begin about an inch from the point you can begin really anywhere.

This the is point, here in between the humps, that you would stick a string or ribbon if you wish to make a heart ornament.

Like this.

If you are not making an ornament continue to sew around....REMEMBER to leave a hole so you can stuff it.

Voila !

Get a small and I mean teeny amount of stuffing because this is paper and you don't want to over stuff it...it may burst and tear.

Stuff it.

See I had this much left over....lightly stuffed is important.

Pick out paint colors...since my garland is Valentiney I chose red, pink, gold and hot pink.

Cardinal red.....Deery approves.

Paint it, I like to sparsely paint mine so I can see some bag, do what you like....... and this is first grade...but let it dry. k?

You can glitter them too....just paint with decoupage and glitter.

After it has dried this is a good place to add wording if you like...cut out lovely words from a vintage book and glue onto your heart.

Just a lil' more sewing...thread a large needle with string.

I used a rather thick string.

I insert the needle about 1 inch down from the humps.

Into the front and around the back and back thru on the other side in the same spot.

Like this.

Here is the back.

So make a pile or just a few.

String them all up.

Hang her up and have a LOVEly Valentine's Day !!!!

This one and many more can be found at JaneSays.

The red and white pom pom garland is simple to make too...ready here is the tutorial for that....string some pom poms....see...told you that it was simple.

have a happy day

Today's Treat

Anyone for a picnic?
How bout a picnic basket?
One of this week's finds, I do love it... this lil' vintage picnic basket.
It's the first one I have found....I have seen them in antique shops or on etsy
that doesn't count.
I like to discover it......save it....rescue it from a thrift store and pay $4.14 for it.
Can I get a Yee Haw ?
It has a fair amount of rust.
That makes is all the sweeter...right ?

Plaid is hot...I am lovin' the plaid.

Now I think I need these....look at those pretty plaid baskets.

Strange bonus it was stuffed and I mean stuffed with frog eyes and owl eyes and beaks.

I will not be making any of these any time soon....though I do think I can think of a couple of cute crafts for the Chloe and I....we like owls. If you think you might like one set...drop me a note and if you pay the exact shipping I'm happy to share.....Free owl eyes and a beak to match.....nice of me huh?

have a happy day

Bulldozer

The playroom.
It's a room that touches my need for organization nerve,
my need for everything in it's place nerve.
My clutter (for instance in my studio) does not bother me as much as someone else's clutter....little selfish of me I know.
I don't allow Mr. JaneSays or Chloe to have any junk lying around while I have piles and stacks of this and that here and there.
But...I know there is a method to my madness...(haha)
I on the other hand have no clue why Mr. JaneSays needs to leave his wallet and keys and a random golf tee and a receipt lying on my bar.....OR why Chloe needs a pile of happy meal toys, a littlest pet shop puppy, a note she has half written to me and a hair bow on my coffee table at all times.
A place for everything and everything in it's place....drill sergeant .... I know.
Back to this playroom.
I bulldoze this joint before every birthday and Christmas.
The key word here is before, I never get much accomplished before....because before there are "new" toys all the old toys are still needed and loved and cherished.

This year I waited until after Christmas and lo and behold we moved so much stuff out.
I was on a cleanliness cloud 9, happy as a lark I was.
Bag after bag.


Box after box....toys she never touches....leaving at Chloe's approval as opposed to her screaming Moooommmmmm...I still play with that !!!!!

I feel very accomplished to have gotten rid of so many toys that are not used.....and I am thrilled that I have, thru much trial and error, found the best possible time to bring in the bulldozer, after and not before.

Clearly the everything in it's place is not sticking with someone....ya think?

He should hope he gets that moved before I get out the decoupage and glitter to work on some Valentine goodies.

have a happy day

Bye Bye Sweetness

Before it's gone I wanted to share with you
one of my biggest and BEST finds ever. A vintage Santa Punch Bowl Set
By Holt Howard...it's from the 60's and it's divine.

When I spotted this in the case at the thrift store....ha...they put the "good" stuff

in the glass case up front....I pictured it in my home at Christmas time.

I didn't think it thru too well though.

All spread out this is a large set....this is one of

those times I wish I had a large dining room table (my dining room is now my studio, there is no table) or a large hoosier cabinet, in white with nice decorative knobs on the cabinets and drawers, oh that would be perfect....but turns out I don't have one of those either

So I knew the only thing to do was sell it

and now, Mr. Santa punch bowl has found a home.

I know he will be happy and I KNOW she will love it, and I know I will miss him when I finally get that hoosier cabinet, you know the white one with the pretty knobs.

have a happy day

Twas Cookie Day

As the mom I feel the tradition making is up to me....so I want to make sure we have good ones.
I like traditions....they are comforting and hopefully memorable.
They carry on......the best ones, keep thoughts of loved ones we once knew..... alive. My mom and I began a cookie baking tradition with Chloe.
It would be my wish that Chloe would keep this tradition with her children and tell them about her early cooking baking days, and maybe they even make some of the same recipes...that would be cool.

We have cookie day in Decmeber, before Christmas.

Chloe jumped at the job of buttering the pan and quickly found out

it's easier if you stick your tongue out ( I love that).

Chocolate chip cookies and peanuts and peanut butter Ritz crackers coated in white chocolate

are always on the menu.

This year we added whoopie pies.

We had never made them before this day.

We did a basic chocolate whoopie pie.

I was sadly not impressed.

I wanted to be, they were so pretty....the creme filling was so fluffy and sweet, I could

have eaten a bowl of that, but the creme and the cookie sandwich together....hmmm, not for me.

Maybe I would like a different flavor.

Like maybe.....

Peanut Butter

Red Velvet

Coconut

Banana

Yea....banana...that sounds good.

I'm pooped though....all cookied out.....maybe next year.

have a happy day