Sharing the Love

Of shoes, that is! I LOVE shoes and I have apparently passed down that trait to my daughter. This morning I found Abby in her room, dressed in an assortment of odd clothes and on her feet, were a pair of fire red, Pattin leather with gold stitching, small healed "clonky shoes". It was a pair of shoes that I had when I was her age ( maybe a bit older) and I called them that because they made a loud clonking sound, like high heels, when I walked in them. I really felt like a glamorous lady every time I put them on. Little did my parents know, that they had started a lifetime love between me and SHOES!

~Todays Happenings~

As promised here is a picture of me with my winnings from The Gypsy's Daughter Blog! A super cool PiNk ToiLLe Geen Sleeve! Got to love that hair -do eh?


Also I got a thank you note from miss Tina Michelle..the most adorable little card EVER!

Aaand, since I'm unofficially taking the "how low can you go" challenge this month ( in reference to budget and spending) I have limited myself to these to supplies for crafts for the next 20 days. I spent a total of 4.50 at a local variety store. I'll find something to paint, I just wanted to try my hand at another kind of art...sooo, we shall see what comes from it :) No need to but the expensive stuff because I'm just messing around with it for now.

Chocolate~ Just the word makes my mouth water and my mind goes into panic mode trying to figure out where the closest source of chocolate could be. I have REALLY gone overboard with the chocolate addiction though : ) If I could bathe in it I would : ) Anyway, I'm purging my house of chocolate this week. That bitter sweet little devil led me right into the dentists office this week. I even threw away these Rocky Road double chocolate cookies that I had just bought yesterday. POO!

PICTURE UNAVAILABLE MOMENTARILY

Bloomin' Blooms!

Another blossom in my flower bed!

JACKPOT ! ! !

I am one lucky girl! Today I won a SUPER cool prize from Theresa over at The Gypsy's Daughter! She just started her new blog and if you haven't already visited her please take a few minutes to stroll through her Etsy shop and read her blog at http://thegypsysdaughter.blogspot.com/. I won a Green Sleeve which is like a cup cozy but it's reusable AND it's a cute accessory ( c'mon now, you don't think I would use something just 'cuz it's Eco-friendly do you? It HAS to be cute!!!) Anyhoo, make sure you check back for a picture of my lovely prize!!!

My favorite brownies EVER!

My husband knows this recipe by memory because his mom made these a lot when he was growing up. He taught me the recipe and now make these about every two weeks as a snack..They are really yummy and buttery crisp around the edges ( the BEST part!)

1 cup Sugar
3/4 cup flour
3 big heaping tablespoons of cocoa
2 eggs
1 generous teaspoon vanilla
1 stick of butter

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
* Melt stick of butter in 8x8 brownie pan, by sticking it in the preheated oven for several minutes
* In a medium mixing bowl combine sugar, flour, and cocoa.
* In a separate measuring cup beat eggs slightly and add vanilla to eggs.
* Pour egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir slightly then add melted butter ( Be careful that you let the butter cool down some before you add it to the egg and flour mixture, you don't want to scramble the eggs : ) Stir until mixed well then pour batter into the brownie pan and make for about 20 mins.
~Abby's special ingredient! Colored sprinkles on top!

~Thriving Under Preasure~

Got an invitation to a BaBy ShOwEr yesterday, for a shower thats THIS Sunday! So, I had to come up with a quick project. I found a very cute "dining out bib" in an Etsy store called "Odannysgirl" at http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11113965 . Please go visit her Etsy store and drool over all the adorable baby gifts she makes.

I just tried to copy the basic idea of the bib but mine turned out a little less perfect. I still have to add a snap closure on the tabs and also I plan on adding some detailed handwork if I get hom ein time tonight. This is a brilliant idea! I wish I had one of these when Abby was still in the "bib" stage : )

One mans Trash...

Is my TREASURE! I found this cute little key rack at the junk store this morning. I just couldn't pass it up!

As promised, Quilted Coasters!

Here are the quilted coasters I'm working on for my mother in laws Mothers day gift. There isn't a lick of hand work in the entire project but I think they turned out good. I machine quilted them but I still have to finsh the edges. I like to package things pretty so I might include a coffee mug ( a pretty one of course) and a magazine or something. She lives out of state so I'll be shipping it to her closer to Mothers Day.

Random stuff

I made these little wire place card holders the night before Sarahs wedding. The table centerpieces were fresh blooming flowers in wire baskets and these little doo dads stuck right in the dirt in the flower pot and held the name cards. The centerpieces that mom made were much more beautiful than my old potted plants but I just stuck them in there to get a snap shot.














There are tiny little beads in the center of each one, giving off a little sparkle in the sunlight...kinda hard to get a good picture with my cheap-o camera.

This bookmark is finally finished and it's off to a Farmgirl friend in Florida~ I just had to attatch the tassles and make a tag for it this morning.

Comming up tonight~ A picture of some QUILTED COASTERS for my mother in law for MOTHERS DAY!

We have the BEST parties!!!

Really! We have the most awesome parties ever! Looking at our little group of gals, we really dont look to much like the partyin' type ( well, with the exeption of me and my bling lovin', hair dyin', kareoke singin' self!) but we really do know how to have a good time! There were about seventeen ladies here for Sarah's Pajama Party last night. The older ladies came for dessert and gift opening then the younger ones stayed for a sleep over. I had to get a picture of this yummy chocolate fountain with chocolate drizzled over the tulle at the bottom...

When I woke up this morning I found this bowl of ooey, gooey goodness in the microwave. It was the left over chocolate from the chocolate fountain. The funny thing is, I just couldn't bring myself to throw ALL that chocolate away! I dunno, I guess I figured if I stayed up a few hours later tonight, I could lick the bowl clean by midnight , by myself ! : )

Abby found this cupcake that was just her size~literally! It was the cutest cupcake cake ever! I just had to get a picture of her holding it! I think she was believing that if she cooperated with the picture I was going to let her have it all!And last but certainly not least, I found these little cuties in my front yard blooming their little hearts out!

Creative block...help!

I found these adorable little plastic limes ( yes, I said plastic) at walmart for a quarter a piece. It was just one of those things you think you have to have ten of y'know? So, I bought several but now now I'm stuck and I can't come up with a creative way to display them or "alter" them. I need creative minds to help me on this one. My first thought was to somehow funkify them then hang them vertically from a ribbon or something like that and tie a funky lil' tag on it somewhere, BUT I just can't decide! Suggestions please!

Another quick, late night project...

This is a JuMbo GiAnT bookmark I made last night(really it's only about 3x8 but thats pretty big for a bookie). I have a few details left to add, namely the tassel. Haven't decided on it yet. I dunno what the idea of this one would be...kinda just a random collection of cool stuff ; )

Up for grabs!

Todays finished project~ a hand embroidered miniature wall hanging. These cute little flowers are sure to entice your buds to start blooming! I'm listing this item until April 13th. After April 13th I'm keeping it for myself : ) And believe me, I don't mind that at all ; )

Details~ Size is approx. 5in x 13in. Three little felt flowers are set on a pure white cotton background, with embroidered stems and fabric leaves stitched snugly. Each flower is adorned with a mini-button from my button jar. The border is a light aqua colored print and brown felt rick rack across the top and bottom borders. And to give it the finishing touch I added a cute little bow to the top as well! Thanks for looking! Let me know if this one has your name on it!

($6.00, no mailing cost)

First batch of seeds started!

Yesterday Abby and I got our hands dirty and planted some bulbs that DH brought home to us. Don't ask me what kind of bulbs they are because he chunked the package out before I got to read it and her just handed us a bag of bulbs to plant. Well, we guessed about how deep to plant 'em and how much sun they need and we're hoping that with a little extra TLC they'll be sproutin' in a few weeks!

Abby is a master gardener. She gets lots of practice at her grannys house.
You have to pat the dirt down gently, like this!
They need lots of water to grow!
Here are Abbys flower ( well, her flower POTS anyway : ) She is so proud of them and she checks on them several times a day :)

Tip of the day~ Don't throw out that water that you boiled your eggs in! Let it cool down to room temperature and water your houseplants and seedlings with it! It's a natural fertilizer!

Thank you to PEGGY from THE SIMPLE WOMAN BLOG!

Yummy! Yummy! Yummy! I got the BEST EVER prize in the mail today! Actually my neighbour got it and brought it over to me because the mail man had put it in the wrong box...You BETTER bring me my prize guuurl! I have been watching that mailbox like a hawk waiting on my ~delicious~ Mrs Meyers dish soap and my CutE CuTe CuTe strawberry apron, HANDMADE might I add, and my little red wooden scrubber brush, ALL that I won in a drawing over at The Simple Woman Blog http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/

My "surprised" face!!!!!

Thank you soooo much Peggy! And tell your daughter, she did an amazing job on the apron and I will take good care of it! I JUST looove all of it!

My "hurry! Take a picture so I can wash a dirty dish!!!" face : )

Snippits of my bedroom makeover!

Here are a few pictures of what I've done to our bedroom this week during my bedroom makeover marathon: ) I have been collecting things here and there, that I wanted to use in decorating the bedroom but I was really waiting to put it all together until I painted. Soooo, PURPLE is the color. I was looking for a grayish purple and picked smokey plum as the wall color. White shutters and trim contrast perfectly! I'm planning on working in some chocolate' brown sheers or drapes around the windows. It's pretty sparse in there right now because I like to look at it for a while and be SURE I know what I want to do with it before I start putting holes in the walls. I need more shelving and storage space in here so we'll see what I can do over the summer! Pretty wooden hook rack!

Pretty photo box to hide msc, JuNk...

I love my moon and stars wire hanger!

"Smokey Plum" is the color of choice..brave huh?