Silly Saturday...

Wishing you a relaxing weekend!

Spring Color = Happiness!

The temperature has been in the 80's for the past few days, the sun has been shining, and the ground is finally starting to dry up from all of the rain that we received last week. That means that I've been able to spend a little time working outside planting a few spring flowers! Here are some photos of what I've done so far:

 

The Jackmani Clematis plants that I have growing on trellises will be blooming in the next few days, and the pink Knockout Roses that are planted along my back fence are beginning to form buds. A sweet bluebird family have once again taken up residence in one of the nexting boxes in my back yard, and I expect to hear the chirping of little bluebirds anyday now. The hydrangeas that Mike and Justin planted for me last summer have beautiful green leaves and will soon begin to produce lucious, large flowers as well! I'll share pictures of these miracles as they start blooming...don't you just LOVE spring??

Wishing you a blessed day!

Scrapbook Page: Friends are the Sunshine of Life

Happy Monday, All! Well, my spring break is officially over and I head back to work today. We got lots and lots of rain last week, so I didn't get as much done as I had originally planned - oh well!

Today I'm going to share with you a scrapbook page that I created to commemorate the retirement of my dear friend, Linda H., a few years ago. I had the honor and privilege of working with her for many, many years, and she has become just like family to Mike and I. Here is the layout:

The color scheme that I used for this layout mirrors the fun colors shown in the pretty jacket that Linda is wearing. I created a pocket on the layout to hold the sweet letter that Linda wrote to Mike and I. On the front of the pocket is the journaling, which tells how we became friends. (You can click on the photo to read the journaling, if you'd like.)

Thanks for looking!! Happy Scrappin'!!

Quote Sunday

"Everything in life need not be perfect to be perfect."

~ Unknown ~



Silly Saturday...

Hope you enjoyed this little giggle to start your weekend off right!! Have a good one!!

Meeting Baby Jack...

Today my sweetie and I drove to Edmond to meet our precious new great-nephew, Jack. He is soooo sweet! We had a wonderful day visiting with Jack's mommy, (our niece Megan), and his grandparents, Mike's sis Lea Ann and her hubby John. Meg's sweet mom-in-law Sue dropped by too, and we all had such a nice time visiting and eating a yummy lunch of pulled pork sandwiches - YUMM-O!! Family is such a precious and wonderful gift, and we are so blessed!

It has rained here ALL week, so my spring break plans of working in the yard were a bust. Oh well, we really, really needed the rain, so no complaints here! I thought that I'd tackle some crafting projects that I had put aside, but in all honesty with all of the gray, rainy days, I lost my crafting mojo! Instead I've spent most of my time kicked back relaxing, reading some good books, and even taking a few naps...which has been really nice! The sun is supposed to come out tomorrow, and it's supposed to be pretty this weekend, so my crafting mojo should return - YEAH!

Wishing you a wonderful day!

A Rainy Start to Spring Break...

I am on Spring Break this week - WOOT!! WOOT!! It's started out with torrential rains...our local weatherman is posting flash flood warnings for many counties in our part of the state. The rain is supposed to continue through Thursday, but that's okay, we DESPERATELY need the rain! I'm enjoying some time indoors and tomorrow I am going to make a big 'ole pot of loaded baked potato soup and a loaf of home-made bread for supper- YUMMM!! (If you'd like the recipe for my loaded baked potato soup, please click HERE.)

Since we're getting so much rain, I had to buy a raincoat for my little Tony...here's a photo of him sporting his cute new coat:

Wishing you a wonderful week!!

Quote Sunday

 "Always remember...be kind, be honest, be true,

and all of these things will come back to you."

~ Unknown ~

Silly Saturday...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! (No, this is not our dog! I found this picture on the internet and thought it was funny, so I just had to share it!)

Scrap-It-Girl's Friday Favorite

Every Friday during the month of March my blogging friend Kimberly is posting a picture of a favorite item or area in her beautiful craft room, and is encouraging other bloggers to photograph something that they love about their craft space and link up the photo(s) to her blog. Check out Kimberly's blog HERE, and while you're visiting why not link up a photo of something you love in your craft space? Here's a photo of something I love about my craft space, which also doubles as our guest room...

I love to relax in this comfy chair and browse through my craft books and magazines for inspiration! I love the bookshelf, which holds several of my scrapbooks and other little things that I treasure. And last, but not least, I love the butterfly print that hangs on the wall above my chair.

Wishing you a blessed day!

Great Read! "The Six Wives of Henry VIII"

Last weekend I read The Six Wives of Henry VII, which is a really good historical fiction book written by Gladys Malvern. This young adult book is broken down in to chapters based on each of Henry VIII's wives, and by the time that you finish reading it, you can't help but feel sorry for each of these women. If you enjoy reading about the Royals, and enjoy reading historical fiction, then I think you would really like this book which is a quick read!

Have a great day!

Trash-to-Treasure...Creating Papercrafting Embellishments From Used Dryer Sheets

Yes, you read the title of this post correctly...I'm going to show you one of the ways that I recycle used dryer sheets to create embellishments for my papercrafting projects! In the card above, I created the layered flower from used dryer sheets that I tea dyed...here's how I did it:

Begin by cutting several used dryer sheets in half lengthwise. Boil water and add to bowl(s) along with teabag(s)...I used both regular tea bags as well as raspberry tea bags:

Once the tea has reached the color you desire, remove the tea bags from the water and place the dryer sheets into the bowls of "tea", stirring to completely saturate the dryer sheets:

Leave the dryer sheets soaking in the tea for several hours or overnight. Remove dryer sheets from liquid and lay on paper towels to completely dry. As you can see in the next photo, the brown dryer sheets were dyed in the water with the regular tea bag and the light purplish/pinkish dryer sheets were dyed in the raspberry tea bag water:

To create the flower in the card shown at the top of this post, I simply cut one of the dyed dryer sheets into 4 pieces and, using a Sizzix and a flower die, cut out multiple flowers:

I then layered several of the dryer sheet flowers, and sewed a button on to hold the layers together. Using cardstock that I ran through my corrugator, I cut out leaves and created a vine for a little extra dimension. Here's a close-up shot of the flower...I really like the fiber-y, (is that a word??), texture that the dryer sheets give them, don't you?

Stay tuned...in the next few days I'll be showing you another project that I made using some of the other tea dyed dryer sheets!

Have a SUPER day!

New Spring Purse

Happy Monday! Just a quick post this morning to show you the SUPER cute purse that my very talented sis-in-law Sandy made for me:

I found the adorable floral fabric on sale at Hobby Lobby last fall, and asked Sandy if she would use it to make me a purse for spring. She happily obliged - she is just so sweet like that! Sandy knows that I LOVE pockets, so she even added lots and lots of those to the inside:

Since the weather has warmed up nicely here in OK, and all of the Bradford pear trees are in full bloom, I figured it was time to start carrying a pretty, colorful spring purse!

Hope you have a terrific week!

Blessings,

Quote Sunday

"Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open."

~ Unknown ~

Silly Saturday...

SERIOUSLY?!?!? I don't think you can get there from here - LOL!! Wishing you a fun and safe weekend...which hopefully is NOT filled with signs like this one - ha! ha!

A Little This, and a Little That...

What a week it's been! I've been a little out of the loop for the past few days, as I've had a run in with a flu bug - ICK! I'm feeling better now - my fever is gone - so I was able to go back to work yesterday. Unfortunately I wasn't able to work on the crafty projects that I had planned to post this week...so hopefully I can get caught up this weekend and share some more "Go Green" trash-to-treaure crafty ideas with you next week.

A bright spot in my week came late Wednesday when I found out that I am the winner of some fun blog candy given away by Cheryl over at She Stamps. (Be sure to check out her blog to see all of her beautiful creations - I know you'll be inspired by her lovely work just as I am!) Here's what I was lucky enough to win:

A SUPER CUTE Lili of the Valley Balloon Bunny Stamp:

And a 6" x 6" BasicGrey Picadilly Paper Pad...which will be FANTASTIC for my spring card making projects!!

Thanks, Cheryl, for the fabulous goodies...you TOTALLY made my week!

Wishing you a blessed day,

Recipe of the Week...My FAVORITE Way to Eat Oatmeal

MMMM! I love a big bowl of warm oatmeal for breakfast...not only is it a quick, terrific "stick-to-your-ribs" kind of dish, but it's reeeeally good for you too! Here's how I dress up my bowl of morning oatmeal to take it from good to GREAT!

Ingredients:

• One cup water
• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 1/2 teaspoon butter
• 2 Tablespoons dried cranberries
• 2 Tablespoons chopped pecans
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons milk

Method:
Bring water to a boil in a small pot. Add cranberries, pecans, butter, brown sugar and oats. Stir until combined, turn off heat, and cover pot. Let sit for about 5 minutes then spoon into bowl(s) and top with milk.

Yeild: Approximately 1 cup.

Enjoy and have a WONDERFUL day, friends!

Tutorial: Altered Hand Mirror with Recycled T-Shirt Collar Rose and Scrap-It-Girl's "Go Green" Challenge Info

Happy Monday, All! Today I'm going to share with you a tutorial demonstrating how I dressed up a plain old hand mirror that I purchased at Dollar Tree for a buck:

Begin by cutting the collar off of an old t-shirt:

Using coordinating thread and a running stitch, stitch along one edge of the collar. When you reach the end of the collar, gently pull the thread to gather the fabric which will create a rosette. Once you've achieved the flower shape that you like, stitch it together on the bottom to hold it in place. (My flower ended up with two rosette shapes on one flower!)

Set your rosette aside. Trace the shape of the mirror onto the wrong side of a piece of patterned paper and cut out. Apply Mod Podge to the back of the mirror:

Place the piece of decorative paper on the Mod Podged mirror back, lining up the edges of the paper with the edges of the mirror, then add a coat of Mod Podge to the top of the paper and set aside to dry:

Once the mirror is dry, you can decorate your mirror as desired! I used LOTS of "blingy" products from Hobby Lobby to decorate mine...

Here's a close-up view of the recycled t-shirt collar rose with bling centers and felt leaves with bling "veins":

And another look at the entire, finished project:

Since March is a "Go-Green" kinda month, this will be the first of several recycled "Trash to Treasure" projects that I'll be sharing with you! Also, the monthly challenge at Scrap-It-Girl is to create a project using a recycled item! (It can be a card, scrapbook layout, altered item...whatever suits your fancy!) Click HERE to check out the challenge and to see some of the wonderful entries. Here is the prize package being given away by Scrap-It-Girl to this month's winning entry:

This AWESOME prize package contains the following:

A white 8×8 board book, 6×6 white board book, Mini Notebook for altering, CD case, 5×7 Canvas Corp Stretched Canvas, 5×7 black frame, mini tin, 6 pieces of altered art shapes, and Pink Paislee Mistables trim… all of these items are for your future altered art projects!! You can enter this fun challenge up to 3 times. Good Luck and Go Green!! Make sure you add Scrap-It-Girl to your list of challenges this month!!

Wishing you a blessed day!