Quote Sunday

"The road to success is always under construction."

~ Unknown ~

Silly Saturday

Have a fun and safe weekend, friends!

Engagement Shadow Box

Next month my lovely friend and co-worker Sarah G. will marry her sweetheart Daniel, so I made the shadow box shown above to commemmorate their upcoming special day. Using the wedding invitation as the main focus of the shadow box, (I blurred out the vital invitation info for this post to protect their privacy), I added some nice rustic touches like the burlap, lace and aged paper flowers to coordinate with the barn wood frame of the shadow box. I then cut one of her engagement photos into an oval and double matted it on coordinating cardstock. (By the way, it was reeeeeally hard to decide which of the engagement photos of Sarah and Daniel to use for this project...all of the photos were so beautiful!) I tucked a little metal tag that says "A Perfect Moment" in the corner of the photo, and then covered a wooden letter "P" with coordinating printed paper; sanding and inking the edges for a distressed antique look. By wrapping a piece of hemp twine around the "P", I was able to attach a cute little silver tag that said "Cherish". Here's a close-up view of those elements:

I am so pleased at how the shadow box turned out, and Sarah loved it! I will definitely be making more shadow box creations, because this one was so much fun to make!

Wishing you a blessed day!

Sunshine Award

My sweet blogging friend Justine, sent me the Sunshine Award...thanks, Justine - you made my day!! (Check out Justine's FANTASTIC blog HERE...I promise you'll love what you see!!)

Now on the the Sunshine Award details...

• Thank the one who gave you the award - done!
• Answer the 10 questions below
• Pass the award on to 10 blogs

The 10 questions and my answers:

1. Favorite color: I really like yellow, but lately have been leaning toward a light ocean blue.
2. Favorite animal: My sweet little dog, Tony!

3. Favorite number: 7 

4. Favorite Drink: Caramel Latte from Panera - DELICIOUS indulgence!!
5. Facebook or Twitter: Facebook.

6. Good book or good movie: I work in a library, so it's definitely a good book - LOL!  

7. My passion: Being creative...whether it's making projects, gardening, or cooking I love to create!
8. Giving or getting gifts: Most definitely giving gifts...especially if I've made something that  I know the recipient will love!
9. Favorite day: Gotta be a Friday...especially after I get off work at 3 p.m.!
10. Favorite flower: Hydrangeas and Geraniums.

In no particular order, here are the 10 blogs I am passing the award on to. These gals are all SUPER talented and continue to inspire me weekly with the wonderful projects that they post! Please be sure to drop by their blogs...you'll be really glad you did! 

 

 1.) Cheryl at She Stamps

 2.) Kimberly at Scrap-It-Girl

 3.) April at Scrapper Forever

 4.) Maya at Basement Chronicles

 5.) Dawn at Time to Create

 6.) Gloria at Scraptabulous Studio

 7.) Deb at Paper, Ink, Scissors and Stamps

 8.) Ann at November Rose

 9.) Lisa at Lisa's Loft of Joy

10.) Stacie at All Things Crafty

 

 

Happy Scrappin'!

Quote Sunday

I found this on Stephanie Ackerman's "Homegrown Hospitality" blog...LOVE IT!!

Silly Saturday...

Good Read! "The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn"

A while back I read Robin Maxwell's first novel, The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, and thoroughly enjoyed it! This wonderful, historical fiction novel begins when a former servant of Anne Boleyn presents Anne's secret diary, (which she had kept hidden for many years), to Anne's only living child, Elizabeth. As Elizabeth reads the diary pages, which capture her mother's innermost thoughts and feelings, she comes to know the mother that was taken away and killed when Elizabeth was only 3 years old; gaining a love and respect for the woman that she was taught to despise through false pretenses. The revelations that Elizabeth encounters while reading her mother's diary forms her resolve that she will never allow a man to rule over her, and ultimately determines her status to remain an unmarried queen and the last of the Tudors to reign on the throne of England.

If you enjoy reading historical fiction about the Tudors, then I highly recommend this book to you!

Liebster Blog Award

Good morning, Friends! My blogging pal Romaine, who is a WONDERFULLY TALENTED lady, bestowed me with this blogging award - thanks Romaine!! (Be sure to check out Romaine's craftiness on her blog, Bumbles n' Bees!)

Here's a little history about the Liebster Blogging Award:

ABOUT THE AWARD

Liebster is a German word meaning "Beloved," "Favorite," or "Dearest." This award is a peer to peer award in which fellow bloggers present the award to their favorite bloggers with less than 200 followers. The origins of this award is unclear, but is believed to have originated by a German blogger. This award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion to share your dearest and most beloved blogs that have less than 200 followers.

RULES FOR ACCEPTANCE

Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog. Post the award onto your blog.Give the award to five bloggers who you appreciate that have less than 200 followers. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you have given them this awesome award!

PAY IT FORWARD

So, without further adieu, here are the 5 blogs (in no particular order, as they all are fantastic!) with less than 200 followers that I would like to pass the Liebster Blog Award on to.....

 

1.) Jill at A Little Red Wagon 

2.) Pam at Living With Projects

3.) Rebecca at Enjoy Life

4.) Laura at Scrapaddict {4} Life

5.) Rina at Mothership Scrapbook Gal

 

Be sure to take a few minutes to check out all of the creative goodness and inspiration on their blogs!

 

Have a SUPER day!

RIP Hunter...

Photo of Justin and Hunter - Sept. 2012

Our sweet, 13 year old beagle Hunter passed away on Friday, so today's post is a tribute to her:

In June of 1999 our son Justin, who was 9 years old at the time, decided that he wanted a beagle. Mike worked with a guy who raised beagles, and he had an 8 week old female beagle that was the only survivor of a litter born in April 1999. We brought her home, Justin named her Hunter, and she became his faithful companion for the next 13 years.

For the first few years of her life, she was a digger...especially after it rained! Mike would jokingly call her the "Ditch Witch", and considered renting her out for digging purposes to bring in a little extra income - ha! ha! She had a weird quirk of loving to lay in my large flower pots on the patio. She would curl herself up into a ball, on top of the flowers and plants, and snooze peacefully there for hours. She would also "stalk" the birds that would flock around my bird feeder, and would try to launch a sneak attack upon any that would land on the ground for the spilled birdseed...never catching one, but sure trying time after time! Such a silly dog!

During the past year her fur had turned more white and her eyesight and hearing were about gone, so the rabbits that live under our garden shed would hop freely around our back yard while Hunter slept in the shade under the tree. It was so funny to see the rabbits playing in the yard while a "known" rabbit dog was asleep in the sun just a few feet from them! She had slowed down tremendously, a little shakey when she walked and sleeping most of the time, so we knew that we probably didn't have too much longer with her. Justin would make daily stops at our house on his way home from work to check on Hunter, scooping her up in his arms and holding her while they sat in a chair on the shady patio. Upon coming home from work on Friday, we found her in her favorite napping spot on the patio, where she had passed away in her sleep sometime during the day. We laid her to rest under the tree in our back yard where she loved to nap in the sun.

So, here's to Hunter...a sweet, gentle, loyal and faithful family companion; the special friend who grew up with a little boy who is now a young man, and who loved you so dearly...rest in peace knowing that you were an important part of our family and that you will be missed greatly!

Blessings,

Quote Sunday

Silly Saturday

At last! The PERFECT tool to help me lose 10 pounds - ha! ha! ha!

Recipe of the Week: Berry Topped Buttermilk Pie

This week's recipe is a cool, delicious pie that is really easy to make. It can be served with or without the berries and whipped cream...I just like the little bit of extra flavor and color that these add to the pie.

Ingredients:

• 1 unbaked pie crust
• 1 stick melted margarine or butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 Tbsp. flour
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• Berries of your choice (I used raspberries, blackberries and blueberries)
• Whipped topping

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll pie crust, place in a 10" pie plate, and flute edges. Melt margarine in a glass measuring cup and set aside. In a large mixing bowl stir together sugar, flour and nutmeg. In a separate bowl beat together eggs, lemon juice, buttermilk, and vanilla. Blend egg mixture into dry ingredients. Gradually add melted margarine, mixing until batter is smooth. Pour into unbaked pie crust and bake on center rack in oven for 45 - 50 minutes, or until knife comes out clean when center of pie is pierced. Allow pie to cool on wire rack before adding whipped topping and fruit to the top of the pie. Refrigerate any leftover portions.

Have a happy day!

Quote Sunday

Silly Saturday

Recipe of the Week: Cinnamon Streusel Orange Muffins

Good morning! I hope that you all had a fun and restful Labor Day weekend. I got a lot of things done around the house and a few things done outside, but only a few - because it was so dang hot! While I was surfing the internet over the weekend I stumbled across a recipe for Cinnamon Streusel Orange Muffins over at allrecipes.com. Since I had all the ingredients on hand, I decided to whip up a double batch to take to work this morning to share with my co-workers. They turned out pretty tasty, and I hope they like them! Here's the link to the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cinnamon-streusel-orange-muffins/.

Wishing you a TERRIFIC week!!

September Scrap-It-Girl Challenge

Do you remember back in July when I shared with you a photo of an old cabinet door with windows that I purchased at a thrift store for $10.00? Well, here's what I ended up creating with it...a wall display to commemorate the 25th wedding anniversary that my hubby and I celebrated in July:

If you remember, here is what the cabinet door started out looking like:

I began by cutting out corrugated cardboard to fit in the window panes, and then covered the cardboard with burlap:

I then placed one of our wedding invitations in the first window pane:

In the second window pane, I recycled an embossed heart that was originally the cover of a wedding invitation that Mike and I received a while back. I covered the front of the heart with pearl paint, so it would match the pearly looking embossed doves on our wedding invitation. I then cut slits in the heart for the ribbon and felt arrow to go through, added a "Love" sticker and stickers to say "25 Years":

The third window pane has two felt birds on a branch, as well as a quote sticker that I attached to white cardstock before mounting to the burlap. I purchased the felt birds and quote sticker from Hobby Lobby, as well as the wooden letter "B". I covered the "B" with red swirly paper; sanding and inking the edges to give it an aged look. The flower is made with deconstructed silk flowers/leaves, a button and some twine. The "B" worked perfectly to cover the unsightly hole left from the original cabinet knob:

In the fourth and final window pane, I added a photo of Mike and I on our anniversary. I mounted the photo on white cardstock before attaching it to the burlap. I found the black felt scroll at Hobby Lobby, and it worked perfectly as a topper for our photo:

How's that for a "Trash-to-Treasure" project? My project is displayed over at Scrap-It-Girl for the September Recipe Challenge. Now, you may be wondering, "What on earth is a recipe challenge?" Well...it's where you have to use a set of specific craft ingredients to create a project. This recipe required using twine, arrows, circles, birds and the color red; and here is how I applied those ingredients to my project:

• Twine: used in the button on the flower center on the letter "B"
• Arrow: used in the center of the embossed heart
• Circle: the button used as the flower center on the letter "B"
• Birds: the felt birds on a branch in window pane 3
• Red: the paper chosen for the letter "B" 

Why not try your hand at creating a project using this recipe? You can enter up to 2 projects in this fun Scrap-It-Girl challenge during the month of September to be eligible to win this FANTASTIC prize package:

The prize package is being given away by my fellow Design Team Member, Laura Cox from Scrapaddict {4} Life, and includes the following products:

•  Making Memories Halloween foam stamp set
• Inkadinkado acrylic Halloween stamp set
• Making Memories Paper Reverie bling and brad set
• Halloween Stickles set with Purple/Orange Peel/Black Diamond colors
• Really Reasonable Ribbon pumpkin and bat border ribbons
• Orange and black jute string
• Black & orange Halloween twine
• A huge piece of black burlap

I hope you will enter a project or two in the challenge...I look forward to seeing your great crafty creations!

Wishing you a fun and safe Labor Day weekend!