Christmas Decoration Exchange Party 2009

You have to understand I am not a big party attendee and I am certainly not one to throw parties but this WAS FUN! I sent out email invites and asked another friend to send out a bunch of invites. I made a fancy pants invitation in Publisher. I asked everyone to bring up to 5 decorations, ornaments, wreaths, lights, candles, etc., and a simple snack to share. I made tickets in Word using a lesson I learned on the web to help with the numbering. When guests arrived they filled the tables in the den and took tickets for the number of items they brought. We had a short devotional and then I started calling numbers. While some "shopped" others visited and got their snacks. Of course, I forgot to take pictures while everyone was here but this picture is of the food table decorations.
I know, very simple, real cranberries--they were 49 cents at Aldies. The candle holders were from SA-1.00 a piece! The silver tray was from GW-2.99 and the ice pieces were left overs from an arrangement I made about 6 yrs. ago. I used Bridge plates to serve the snacks. We had pretzels and dip, brie with cranberry chutney, garlic dip, spinach and artichoke dip and mmm...chocolate pie. The picture frame in this picture is one of the items I chose. I just kept calling numbers until everyone felt they had all they wanted. This is what was left...still some pretty good stuff, huh?
I am looking at the preview of this post and laughing because it looks like I am only 3 expecting people to show up... It was a small gathering-7 people. I just didn't take pictures until I talked to my best friend on the phone. She couldn't attend and wanted pictures. I had already washed half of the dishes and silverware. Too Funny!

PB knock off peace dove pillow

I am finally back with a project...

I have been gone for a while...school started, the flu has been going around ever since... the kids and hubby are super sick. UGH!
When I received the PB catalogue in the mail a few weeks ago I scoured it of course and marked pages. I love the contrast of red and white and fell in love with the dove pillow here. Apparently many others love it too because it is no longer available. Well, you can just make your own. Did you know that HL has embossed felt? Ok, well maybe I am late to the party because I got all excited when I found a pretty red color. I bought a remnant of white cotton at JF. I cut the fabric into two 12' squares. I created a dove template and a leaf template out of paper and traced the shapes on the red felt. After cutting out the felt I glued the felt to the white cotton with this

It bonds REALLY well!! To add a more polished look and to protect the edges of curling, I used embroidery floss to blanket stitch the outlines of the shapes and the cut outs. When I was finished I sewed the two pieces together and filled the pillow with stuffing and voila! A cute pillow that will stay up until the end of February.

I have joined the Linky party over at Kimba's so head on over and take a peak at great ideas! Christmas decorating is around the corner.

Comfort Pack-super easy gift!

I have been wanting to make one of these packs for a while and finally got around to it. I bought a foot of flannel and created a pocket. I made a sack of muslin and poured the flax seed in and blind stitched the edge. The muslin pack fit into the flannel pocket and then I blind stitched it. A super easy, inexpensive project! I paid $1.86 for the flannel and $4.00 for the flax seed-I already had the muslin. I bought my flax seed in bulk at our local organic co-op. The reason for the flax is that the seeds are so small they really help the pack conform to your body. It also stays warm for a long time since flax is about 40% oil. You just pop the pack in the microwave for a few minutes for a hot pack or in the freezer for a cold pack. This one is a gift for a friend who starts chemo. today.

Butterflies in My Garden

We are enjoying this Lord's Day with family. I hope you are relaxing today! These pictures are off my patio. I have a hummingbird/butterfly garden there. These are a few of our visitors.

Cute and Inexpensive Hostess Gift

This is a very inexpensive hostess gift or housewarming gift or teacher gift. I think it is cute. Sorry the pictures aren't great. It is raining cats and dogs today so I had to find some light. I bought the little round trivet thingy at Big Lots for $3.00. Judging with my hand, I think the diameter is about 4 inches. I then went into my Word program and found a font I liked. Now I free-handed mine(perhaps you can tell?) onto my trivet but you could transfer it using the newspaper method or transfer paper method, whatever. Then you use this and paint the letter onto the plate. I did bake my plate as it instructs on the bottle for 30 min.
How sweet, huh? You could attach a hook on the back. I use this little brass stand I bought at a thrift store for 10 cents, gotta love it! Head over to Kimba's and check out everyone's goodies!

By No Means Pretty Yet Necessary!

Ladies, let me just start by saying if I don't get a good night's rest tonight I might just have a melt-down! Some people in our neighborhood have been rehabing their house for a few weeks now. We are talking gutting with gusto! I am absolutely all for it and want them to succeed-really, I do. Just not at 1 and 2 am. I don't know about you but I totally see why we have our babies in our youth and right now 35 doesn't feel all that youthful!
Ok, on with the post. How many of you have one of thesefire-proof boxes? I found one last week at Big Lots for a great deal. If you don't have one, you really need to consider getting one. I don't have loads of valuables that I need to tuck into a safe. No family jewels here! But it is a good idea to keep all of those important papers inside. Here are items to consider: birth certificates, marriage licenses, social security cards, last two years taxes, wills, life insurance policies,titles, deeds, mortgage paperwork, retirement info. etc. If your household is like mine, you are the one doing the bills. In this new paperless age we are paying more and more bills online. If our hubby needed to take over it would be a catastrophe. Shoot! Mine couldn't even log onto my computer without me. SO, this box is a great place to store all of that info. It will all be in one place if needed.
Now don't forget to lock it. Not just because of someone's uninvited eyes but also because if a fire were to strike at your home, that would really not be the time to think about wishing you would have locked the box as it tumbles through the floors of your dwelling. Now about those keys, I have it on good authority that when the box is in a fire the outer shell sorta melts so it will take more than a key to get it open. So just make sure you keep the key in a place convenient for you on an everyday basis and maybe put the other in your safety deposit box.
Not that I wish any illwill on anyone but being prepared is always fashionable. I just know one of you ladies can find a way to make those boxes pretty. Someone will have decoupaged theirs, painted it, scrapbooked it..........

Heirloom Party--Late again!

I am always so late to these blog parties! Sorry. I just don't catch them fast enough.
I am the oldest grandchild/great grandchild on both sides of my family. As far as I can tell I am the only sentimental one in the bunch so when the greats went into the nursing home the year I got married we started with a lot of household stuff. Granted, I am one of the few adult great grandchildren. One of my favorite heirlooms is this china. My grandparents got this china
for their 50th wedding anniversary. The neat thing is I was 5 at the time and remember sitting with them at the head table of their anniversary party. They took care of me a lot when I was very young and I loved them.


This Fostoria glass was my grandparents wedding gift on my Mom's side. A few of the pieces in my collection were part of my great grandmother's collection. I love using these pieces because my grandmother is gone now. I never remember a table set with any of the Fostoria. She had a difficult childhood and I think this collection is one of just a few nice things she had. She was a woman full of fire. I love her for it. See the little precious moments figurine? My husband gave that to me as a wedding present.Today is our 13th anniversary. What a blessing!


This linen is precious to me.
My Mum's grandmother was a divorcee. We are talking about the 40's here. Divorce was not nearly as common then as it is now. Not many jobs were available for women. She had four girls to raise. Rough. She raised her girls by working as a seamstress. She was amazing with her hands. I have doilies, dresser runners and lace edged pillowcases. I even have a runner that was done by 4 different generation...my great grandmother, my grandmother my mother and I. I admire her courage and strength.

Finally, I won't show you a picture but my engagement ring was my grandmother's engagement ring. I will never forget when my grandfather gave it to me he said, "I hope you never have to sell this!" Hmm,that is someone who lived through the depression, someone who went off to war as a boy to help his widowed mother keep the family running, and chose to spend the war in a submarine because it meant more money for his Mum.
I am thankful for the heirlooms, they are reminders of the character of my family and how God has carried my family through difficult times.

Saturday Thrift Shopping-A Soap Dispenser

It is time for another link party visit Southern Hospitality to join in on the fun and take a look what others have found on their adventures! Let me start by saying I AM EXHAUSTED. Friday I mowed, edged, weeded, and trimmed. I also worked a few hours in my office and did all the laundry, finished sanding my free cherry headbooard (that is for another post), and ran lunch to my hubby. Today I woke up at 6 to work in my office for a while and then finish weeding the patio. Since hubby is working for the weekend I decided a little thrift shopping was needed. I think I scored!


I love roosters! I found the wire rooster and the wall plaque on this trip. We love iced tea spoons, so 8 more are a welcomed addition. I also bought the little relish forks since I have none of those. My boys looooove those Magic Tree House books. I actually purchased 8 of them. Now for my favorite.... I saw
this over at Creations by Kara and I thought, "Cute, but I will NEVER find one of those!" Well,today I found one. So this mouthwash dispenser is now on my dryer with laundry detergent in it! Whoohoo!

Keeping the Homeschool Stuff Straight

We have only two more weeks of summer vacation before we need to go back to our full schedule and that got me thinking...you might be interested in seeing how I keep things organized. I bought this bookcase at our thrift store for $39.00!!! What a steal for a REAL bookcase!

It only had two shelves when I purchased it. I am so thankful we have a really handy gentleman in our church who was willing to make me two more shelves. I keep the kids reference books, science, history and free reading books on the shelves along with lined paper and graph paper. The bucket has flashcards and math manipulatives in it. I keep the boys' workbooks and notebooks in their individual backpacks because we sort of ooze all over the house when we homeschool. Reading on the futon in the "mantuary" because it gets the best morning light, math and handwriting at the kitchen table for the posture and structure, beds for reading etc.

The picture wire is strung across the wall is attached to eyelet screws. One of my guys LOVES art and this is a great inexpensive way to have an art gallery.
The plastic box ( I know soooooo beautiful!) is for my teacher manuals, tests and keys.
The green bin is actually for silverware. I bought it on clearance and it is great for holding supplies such as glue, white board pens, pencils. Again, very portable, easy to keep tidy.


So this is the back of the door in this room. The organizer is from a dollar store. I keep little stuff such as math manipulatives, extra art supplies, and pencils here so they are easy to grab. See all those bags. Crazy, huh? My husband does not call me "the bag lady" for nothin'! The kids each have a bag for Awana and then the other two are piano bags. Usually there is a church bag there as well.

Finally, the prettier side of the room. I know, I know, attack of the fake flowers. Here is the thing, they are really nice, expensive fake flowers. Well, they would have been if I hadn't bought them from a designer shop going out of business! I also teach piano and voice lessons, that mess gets disheveled on a regular basis. I love love love that clock. So unique,unless you have one and I don't know it yet! Feel free to tell me with what I should replace those flowers.

Trash to treasure-A dresser rescue

I literally picked this out of someone's trash. (I even asked first)I brought it home because of a few crystal knobs it had for handles. It had been painted many times and decoupaged with fabric and sponged with gold paint. Unfortunately it was missing a drawer. It took the span of a month to transform this into something pretty and functional. A good friend cut a piece of plywood to match for use as a shelf. The back of this dresser is marked elm. The grain pattern is so unique. I didn't use a stain on the piece after stripping it. I just used a rub on poly. The new hardware matches the ghosts left by the original hardware. It is a bit too brassy; I might have to antique them some. This has to be one of my favorite refinishing projects. Sorry about the order of the pictures. I haven't figured out how to command their order even though I posted the before picture first.

Before and After Lamps-Kimba's DIY Link Party

Kimba is having a fun DIY Link party. When you are done here, go check out her McKLinky list and add one of your own! We have been living room furniture shopping for quite some time now. I have been admiring the lamps that they always have staged with the furniture. I found two brass lamps at GW last week. I sanded them, primed them and then spray painted them with my new favorite color-Oil-Rubbed Bronze. I am so pleased with how these turned out! I got the new shade at Big Lots. Shades are NOT cheap, even at Big Lots!

Back from Vacation...Time to Work!

We went out east for 9 days and got reenergized. Now it is time to get some work done. We drug everything out of our basement and threw away, gave away, gifted away and consolidated. Now our basement is orderly. What a great feeling! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my label maker. It is addictive, really.

We also baked some dark chocolate chip cookies. Have you ever seen such perfectly round cookies? My six year old son made them. Sickening. Really. My son wants to be a pizza man when he grows up or a chef (said with a lisp, too cute). I kid you not, when we go to Goodwill, his favorite section is the kitchen utensils.

I have been wanting to put some kind of bench at the end of our bed. Here is a before and after. I took 3 layers of fabric off. The fabric I chose to recover with happens to be very similar to the oldest layer found on this vanity bench. It fits perfectly. It only took a couple of hours and I learned a new skill! The webbing on this bench had seen better days. I used my 40% coupon and bought new webbing. I had some left over muslin from previous project to layer over the old stuffing and a new layer I added to freshen it up. I am pleased over all.

Works for Me Wednesday: Kitchen Edition--Recipe Holder

I am two months late to the game but here goes...I have been using these little index card holders for a couple of years now. All of our family favorites are stored in these handy binders I found at Tarjay. I try lots and lots of recipes but a recipe has to be really great to make the cut inito the binder. There are 3 colored lined index sections in each binder. One of my binders has salads/veggies,main entrees, desserts. The other binder has appetizers, crockpot recipes and grill recipes. If you are a camper you may want to consider filling one of these with your favorite camping recipes and leaving them in your camper. Head on over to Rocks in My Dryer and get more tips.

My Handy Boot Tray

My boys were sick. AGAIN. They lounged watching mind numbing tv. I lounged my way-projects!!! I rearranged a bookcase, baked some scotch shortbread cookies, freshened the foyer, changed the front door decoration and stripped my latest furniture refinish project. More on that to come. While working on the foyer I saw this.

My brother says I have "hand-feet". It is true. They are small- a size 5 or 6. The pair on the right belong to my 9 yr. old son. They have to grow up??? Sigh.
Since my U-verse installer sat on the foyer bench and promptly noticed my cleverness, I thought you might want some cleverness for your foyer. It is actually a tip from Martha. Go to your favorite dollar store and get some rocks. They will drain the water off the bottom of your shoes. I leave mine out year round since I have all hardwood.

Another Chair Before and After

I will let you in on a secret. Thanks to a certain commentator, my only commentator, I decided to try another entry.
I have another chair before and after today. This is a 1930's arm chair from GW in need of an update. I paid $10.00. I love the shape and thought it would make a great LR chair for me as I knit at night. I had visions of listening to my son read to me in this chair.
Here are some tips:
1. Be sure to wrap any existing stuffing with fresh batting so it will be smooth.
2. Be sure to carefully take the current fabric off. You will use the old fabric as a template for the new fabric.
3. Buy the reupholstery tools at JF or HL. They are worth it!
4. Don't buy the cheap tacks in bulk. You will grumble and cry because the nail heads will protrude when you nail them in. I am just sayin'....
5. Don't be surprised when someone else claims your treasure for their own.
My husband now sits in my chair everynight while watching tv.

Reupholstered side chair

For my first post I thought I would offer a DIY project of my own. This side chair was given to me for free from a friend who took pity on my reupholstery itch. The fabric is from HL. I think it turned out nice. I used a staple gun and some hot glue. This is a great first project if you have been thinking of trying out upholstery. My advice is paper template!