The last first day

A page from my 2 week scrapbooking stint, last summer. The first day of kindergarten. Such a pretty, happy little girl.

The first day as a senior. Still pretty, not quite as little or happy.

Me::Doesn't it seem like the first day of kindergarten was just yesterday?

Her::NO! It seems like a @&%#$*@$ long time ago!

Oh heavens.....time stands still for no one.

Beach blanket to go-done!

One project down, 32 to go-for The Handmade Home Project.

This one was "beach blanket to go". I used "vintage" sheets on the front and a waffle weave shower curtain on the back. I made my own seam binding with material I've had. To make the seam binding I tore 5" strips and ironed each side to the middle-folded kind of like a kleenex would be. My machine was being a very bad boy and I almost threw him out the window. But I adjusted his settings and he started to behave.

All in all this was a pretty easy project. The only thing is-is when I start doing a big project it seems to tear the entire house up. That's my biggest frustration. I may make more later-but I'm done for right now.

I think for all the trouble I was having with my sewing machine, beach blanket to go turned out pretty!

Goin' to the chapel

I'm going to a sweet, young couple's wedding today. First wedding I've attended in quite a while.

When will I ever learn?-DON'T write the names in the middle of the envelope-the ribbon covers them every time!

Getting ready for beach blanket to go.

I picked out the sheets I'll use for my beach blanket to go. For the back I think I'm using a waffle weave shower curtain. Hope it sews up okay.

The first one will be a test run and it will probably be for me. If it's not too hard I may make more for gifts.

Man-this blanket would have come in handy during my youth when I went to the pool every. single. summer. day.

Ahhhh-those were the days!

Diaper Clutch/Changing Station

Thought I'd share a blog I've been checking everyday. It's Dollar Store Crafts. They put a new craft up every day. Today's craft was this Diaper Clutch/Changing station. It's a nylon placemat folded with elastic and a button added.

Dollar Store Crafts links to Jen's blog. She's the one who came up with this idea and she shows pics of how she does it.

I stopped at the dollar store today when I was in town and picked up this polkadot nylon placemat. (It was marked 2 dollars but rang up 1 dollar-yipeeeeee!). I also picked up this little soft pack of wipes and I already had the diaper, which was a free sample.

I folded my placemat by looking at the pics on Jen's blog. The folds weren't staying in, so I took the iron to it. Not screaming hot-I didn't want to melt the nylon. That helped some. I had some elastic from a bag of notions from Goodwill. But if you don't have any you can always hit the underwear drawer and cut the top off old unders. (I've never done that though. Nope, not me!) I hand stitched the elastic (about 13-14 inches before folding in half) to the inside of one flap, then a button on the outside of that same flap. (Stitching was probably the hardest part.)

All done. Nice little addition to a baby shower gift. This little clutch would be nice to keep in the car for emergencies, don't you think? Cute right? Almost makes me want to have another baby. Almost. ☺

Handmade Home Project

I love, love, love to read blogs. The very first blog I ever read was The Julie/Julia Project . I asked my sister to look it up for me, after seeing a news segment on it. So, when I was at my sister's house I always got on her computer and read it. This was way before I had my own computer. In fact I didn't know how to turn her's on and could barely use the mouse!

Anyhow-the blog was about Julie and her quest to make every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. That's 536 recipes in 365 days and so her blog was born-then a book(thanks, Kimmie, for the book)-and now the movie. I haven't seen it-but I've heard nothing but good things about it.

Today, (my name is Holly and) I am a blog addict and one of my favorites is Soulemama. She wrote two books-The Creative Family and now just out-is Handmade Home-Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures. I'm loving reading Handmade Home. And since the Julie & Julia movie is out right now-it got me thinking. Just for fun-I should do a little bloggy series called 'Handmade Home'-and make each of the 33 projects in Amanda's book. And then blog about it. I'll give myself plenty of time-say a year. I don't work well under pressure.

So-I have already been gathering some of the materials for "beach blanket to go"-lots of sheets with cool prints from good ol' Goodwill. Some of the other projects will include "baby's fringed playmat", "cloth diapers", and "women's cloth". That should be interesting!

Wish me luck-I'm sure I'll need it.

New old table

I had mentioned me liking a table at Goodwill in this post. In the comments I wrote that maybe my bol (that's brother-out-law, in case you didn't know) would go get it for me, because it wouldn't fit in my jeep.

He's like-what do you want me to get for you??? I told him, but also told him he didn't really need to worry about. It wasn't something I desperately needed. I didn't even know where I'd put it.

So he calls me yesterday afternoon and tells me that the Goodwill people said they had sold it in the morning. I'm like-that's fine, thanks for trying.

Well-low and behold, last evening about 8pm, my sister, niece, and bol pull in my driveway in the "Bush Hog" and tell me they had something for me. They brought the table. Oh-that bol of mine-he's such a good liar. I never suspected a thing.

So, what a nice surprise! Thanks Davey, Jodie, Jess, and Patty (that's my nephew and his name is Patrick, but I lovingly call him Patty.)

The table may sit in my basement for a while, but eventually I'll find the perfect spot for it in my house!☺

Stupid human trick II (or field corn for dinner)

Um yeah-time for today's installment of stupid human trick. Unfortunately I'm the human again.

Hubby brought us home some corn last night, he'd just picked it at my in-laws. We were having it tonight with our dinner.

My thoughts as I was husking it:

::Geez Larry, this looks stuff looks tough.

::Geez Larry, why couldn't you have looked for more tender stuff.

::I know it's been a while, but I thought the silk was yellowish not dark brown.

My thoughts as it was cooking:

::At least it smells good.

My thoughts as I was eating mine before Larry got home from work:

::This isn't very good.

::Maybe I should have cooked this longer, cause man-this is tough.

::Why am I even eating this.

My words to Larry when he got home:

::I don't think you're gonna like this.

::Wow that stuff's tough.

His words to me:

::Well-it shouldn't be, it's just coming on.

::Let me look at it.

::Why-that looks like field corn-hope I didn't pick the wrong stuff.

::Wait till I taste it.

::Eeewww-that's field corn, not sweet corn! Now, how'd that happen???

**************************

Maybe, we'll try again tomorrow.

Then again-maybe we won't.

Field corn-it's what's for dinner.

Oink oink!!!

Green with "Envy"

No-I'm not really green with envy, but I think I might have a zinnia that is.

I saved this article from Country Living from-get this-10 years ago! I've always been fascinated with zinnias-I think it's the vibrant colors and the fact that they grow best by just throwing the seeds directly in the ground.

This article was about green zinnias and their name is "Envy". Cute, right? Well-I'm wondering if one of my seed packets contained an "Envy" seed because it sure looks green to me.

Anyhow-I thought it was funny that I had saved that article. I do that-save articles that interest me and keep them in a file folder. It's takes up a lot less space than saving the whole magazine and makes things easier to find. I know of others that do this too (Dawnie & Cindy H. to name a few). So I know I'm not that weird!!!

Oh-and I had to show off my unusual find-it's a tinted 2 quart Mason jar. I don't think I've ever seen a 2 quart jar-so it's unusual to me. 49 cents-that baby was!☺

Have a bright, bright, sunshiny day!

☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼

Stupid human trick

So yeah, let me tell you a story about a 41 year old whose name rhymes with Molly. She's not too bright sometimes.

Yesterday-we'll call her "Holly"-Holly stopped at her favorite neighborhood thrift store. She stops every time she's in town. Anyhoo-after she was done browsing-she drove around back to unload a few bags into the donation building. (She's been cleaning the basement, you know.)

Well-she got distracted because she saw employees throwing unsold 15 cent items into the dumpster. They were getting ready to rotate colors for the next day. While Holly was unloading her bags into the shed-she thought she'd yell over something clever, so she yells "I guess I'll have to start dumpster diving! Hahaha!" to the employees doing the tossing out. After that, Holly had to get to her mom's house to help her mom clean a few crumbs up her filthy house.

A few hours later, after the crumbs were filth was cleaned up, Holly headed home, but remembered she had a few bags in the back, back of her jeep-so back to Goodwill it was. (Besides-there was this round table there for 15 dollars and she really liked it-but how would she get it home and where would she put it?-oh heavens.)

She went and took another look at the table and thought no-better not, but decided to browse yet again-that's right, twice in the same day.

Holly headed to the books and much to her dismay-she saw Apples for Jam-wow, she loved that book! She'd just pick that up for Dawnie cause she knew Dawnie would love it-and for a dollar well-you can't beat that with a stick.

And then-what luck-The Glass Castle-Holly loved that book too. Why-she'd just pick that up too-and it's a soft cover-that's only 50 cents.

Wow-today must have been her lucky day-because there on the shelf was Home to Holly Springs........hey wait a minute-what the frick?, Holly had all these books in her car-she was going to give them to Dawnie to read, the next time she saw her.

Oh. my. goodness. "Ummmm-Sandy, Sandy-Sandyyyyyy!!!!" (Sandy is a Goodwill employee, by the way.) "Remember me dropping off donations this morning? Well-I gave you a bag of books I wasn't suppose to. I'll be happy to pay for them again though."

I'm happy to say Sandy didn't make me pay for my mistake and only looked at me-I mean Holly-like she was just a little crazy.

The end-for now-I hope.☺

From the outside, looking in

You want to be a peeping Tom? Here's a pic of our dining room from outside the window.

You know what? I would always love to look inside houses at night when the lights were on-say when I'd drive by (well-not when I was driving-when someone else was driving). Not to peep on people, but just to look at the decor. My mil (that's mother-in-law-in case you didn't know) always thought I was very strange for that.

I didn't see anything wrong with it. I figured they would close their curtains if they didn't want anybody to see.

Am I the only one who likes to peek at other people's decor-through their window? (And I mean driving by, not walking up to their window like a true peeping Tom.)

And Jodie-no smart remarks-and you know what I mean!☺

Cup o' coffee

Top o' the morning to you! Even though it's barely morning anymore-I had to say that cause I love to say o' instead of of.

Where did I get this "coffee" mug? Where else do I find unique items at great prices?-Goodwill o' course.

This one's for you Jodie! (My sister who likes a good cup o' coffee-good cup and good coffee).

Have a great day!☺

Tin 'o buttons

I've been cleaning out the basement the last couple days-it was bad, bad, bad. I'm going through the stuff on the shelves (had my dad mount shelves in the basement about ten years ago-the best home improvement-ever) and I found this old tin of buttons my sister bought me when an elderly neighbor of hers passed away and they were having an "estate sale", so to speak. This was quite a few years ago and I've needed to go through these and clip off the strings and such-but just never did.

A tin of buttons can say a lot about a person, I have found. Along with perhaps a lifetime of these used buttons (only a few newer looking ones) there were army men, special rocks, and heads that were broken off ceramic figurines. I would guess she saved these things from the kiddos in her life.

Also-she probably used (smells like) Tabu perfume (in other words-elderly lady perfume). The smell is still lingering, after all these years.

Tin o' buttons-exciting stuff-no really!

Squash-it's what's for dinner!

Crookneck squash and zucchini and onions-that's about all (besides green tomotoes) that's in our pitiful looking garden. We had this last night and we'll have it along with (probably) cheeseburgers tonight.

I just washed the squash, cut out the big seeds, chopped the rest up, added chopped onion and sauteed it in a couple tablespoons of (real) butter for about 10 minutes and then added plenty of salt and pepper. It was tasty. (I actually like the crookneck squash better than zucchini.)

Squash and beef-it's what's for dinner.☺

Love and Hope

Since I gave Jess my blue 11 x 14 frame, I needed another frame for my La La Love you print. So, I dug out an old 8 x 10 and spray painted it in John Deere light yellow. Then I sanded the edges. I'm kind of into yellow and I think I like it. Good enough for now.☺

And then below that-I hung this lovely wall art that my sister gave me. Thanks, Jodie! I la la love it. (hehe) She knows I love all things hope. I added a wallet of my Hope on the corner. Click on pic for deets!

Speaking of Hope, yesterday was the sheep show at the fair. Here's Hope (on right) showing her friend the ins and outs of showing sheep.

Who knew showing sheep was such a complicated art???

The first bouquet!

Oh, I love my zinnias-and here's the first real bouquet. I love to bring in flowers-makes me feel better! You should try it, if you haven't already.

Dawnie told me they have bunches of zinnias in tomato cans-yes, tomato cans-at the farmer's market-yes, in our little town there's a farmer's market-for a dollar. What a deal!

Next time I open a can of tomatoes, I must save the can and try using it as a vase. So simple, yet so ingenious!

A baby gift

I was getting a little baby gift ready to send for tomorrow and I thought I'd share.

This is for a little girl-very little-she was a premie. I didn't make it to the shower (my daughter didn't tell me I was invited)! Anyhow, I thought I'd just send this little gift.

It's four baby washcloths (I think a bottle of baby wash is cute to give with the washcloths, but since I'm mailing this, I'm not giving it this time) and three onesies that I embroidered. And also, these engraved Gerber spoons that I like to order when I find out baby's first name and birthday. You know-cause I love personalized things.

I just looked on the Gerber website and guess what-the price on the spoons more than doubled! They used to be $2.95 a piece (very reasonable, I thought) and now they are $7.95 a piece. I think they still offer free shipping, though I'm not completely sure.

Darn that Gerber Corp.☻

A recipe box and recipe cards

Yesterday at my favorite store (you know where I mean) I picked up this painted metal recipe box for a quarter. I don't really know what the appeal was-probably the colors, but I love it.

It got me thinking about recipes and recipe cards. I remembered my mom gave me some blank recipe cards with little embellishments that she stenciled on. I thought they were so cute. I found one-it's the blue heart one.

That inspired me to dig out (dig means tear up the house) some stamps and stamp pads and make a few recipe cards myself. Someday I really should sit down and rewrite some of my recipes, because a lot are just jotted down on scraps of paper and such. I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this. Also, I don't think I could find an old recipe to save my life.

Maybe since I have a nice little recipe box now, I'll do this in the near future-or maybe not.

***Vintage tablecloth given to me by ~Dawnie~. It was Holly or the trash-and Holly won!

Cousin collage

Some of my niece's cousins-from the other side of the family-are leaving to go home (out of state-far away) today, after a two month visit. She has grown very attached to her young cousins and is having a very hard time of it.

So I made this little collage of her cousins (Daddy snuck in there too) that live out of state (and I framed it in this blue-because she told me she likes it and I'm nice like that).

Hope this makes her feel better (and not worse-oh heavens!). But I know she'll be okay in a few days. Kids are resilient like that.☺ Thank goodness!

I ♥ her.☺

Photobook of my girl's photography

The front.

I ordered another photobook from Artscow.com.

It's of my daughter's photography. I thought it would be nice to have the photos in one place. And I really seem to like photos in book form nowadays, for some reason.

The back.
The inside. (She's a softball player, by the way.) Click on pic to see deets! (Deets means details-in case you didn't know.)

She recently bought a new camera, so I guess I be ordering more! and more! and more!

***Note to self: Repaint fingernails and make sure you do it in the orange your sister got you hooked on.☺

Pink stuff (or Pretty in Pink)

Just look at this little beauty I picked up Goodwill for $1.99. It's pink Pyrex perfection was worth every penny to me. I've never seen this pattern before.
Speaking of pink-this is how I'm embellishing (with buttons) the last two clothespin/plastic grocery bag holders. And my middle sister has claimed this one.☺

***Ahhhh-Pink-you gotta love it.***

A clothespin holder for me!

Even though I don't hang clothes-I wanted one. Perhaps I'll use it for plastic grocery bags.

Fabric::Goodwill

Seam binding::Goodwill

Doily::my closet

Hanger::my closet

I think she's purdy. I have two more to finish and embellish (maybe some buttons?) from this pink polyester fabric from Goodwill.

So stay tuned-I know you're on the edge of your seat!☺

Home Interior Redo-Part 2

Remember this? (Probably not-but go refresh your memory!)

Well, here's the second installment of redoin' that ol' Home Interior. (For those of you who perhaps don't know what Home Interior is-like maybe if you are from Australia-it's where you have parties in your home and there is a demonstrator and people buy these home wares and the hostess gets free things. Kind of like Tupperware parties.)

Okay-anyhow-I was too lazy to prime, so I got out the ocean breeze blue spray paint. I sprayed it on-but I didn't like it. I tried white-didn't like it either. So-I thought I would try red for this ol' Home Interior shelf and I think I like it. And since I have red accents in my kitchen(ette), I think this works.

So now I have more display space, and you can never have too much display space.☺

***Note-when taking pictures for your blog, take them sideways. It makes them look better. (That's what I tell myself, anyhow.) And I call this photo ~dreamy~, not ~blurry~. ☻

Pillowcase tote

This is a Ralph Lauren pillowcase I bought at Goodwill a year or two ago.

But now it's a tote. I made it following the directions in the video on this Craftsanity blog post. This was my first bag ever, and I have to say it was pretty darn easy.

This was a pretty big pillow case, so I was able to cut the hem of the case off and use it for the handles. I also took the Ralph Lauren tag and sewed it on the outside-just to be silly.

Now my sister wants one. If only I could find that matching case.........☺

Pretty, petite birdie perched on it's post! (or Bird on a Wire)

♥♥♥I love these birds.♥♥♥

Thanks Jodie, for the second title!

Outdoor mirror

The lighting in my house leaves a lot to be desired. So when I need to do some tweezing of the eyebrows, I take my hand mirror and tweezers (or pluckers, as my daughter calls them) and head outside to the deck. The natural light makes it so much easier to see! This morning I was thinking that it would be great to have both hands free.

So-hellooooo-I went and got a hammer and nail and voilá an outdoor mirror.

I'll take it inside when not in use. And I hope hubby doesn't notice this nail. Shhhh-don't tell.

But man-I think it's great idea, if I do say so myself.

You're welcome!☺

The dollar fifty pick-me-up...

for the bathroom.

I spotted this at a Goodwill in a nearby town. I loved it for it's color. I thought it would give my bathroom a nice little pick me up for not much money.

And it does!☺

***Note-At first, I was like-do I really want a used toothbrush holder?-and then I got over myself. I mean, come on-I buy used dishes, so what's the difference? I just washed it and moved on!

My hummers

More potholders-yeehaw!

I call this series "Seedless Watermelon".

Exciting stuff, I know!☺

***Note-I cut the fabric for the loopers (these are actual potholders not for a rug) about 1-1 1/4 inch x 5 1/2-6 inch, depending on the material's stretchiness.

Adorable flower/tea boxes

My friend, Dawnie, found me a bunch of these tea boxes at Goodwill (I think), after I proclaimed my love for a box like these sitting on her counter one day. (She gave me the one she had on her counter too.)

I had never done anything with my tea boxes-except sit them around, cause I think they're so darn cute.

Something got me thinking that they would look nice with flowers in 'em. So I rounded up some little wee jars, filled them with water, got the scissors, went outside and started cutting. A couple minutes later, I had these lovely miniature flowers boxes.

Oh-I love them! I think they just exude adorableness!

♥♥♥These little boxes have slide-on lids and would make nice little containers for any small treasures.♥♥♥

These used to be t-shirts

Now they're potholders. Hopefully, soon these potholders will be a rug. I need more red tees.

Dang-I guess I shouldn't have cleaned out my closet a couple months ago-I know I had some red shirts in there.

If you see me eyeing you up-don't worry-I won't steal the shirt off your back.

But I may ask for it. ☻

Let's make loopers!

1. Cut a rectangle approximately 2 1/2 x 6 inches. (Maybe a little smaller if your t-shirt material is especially stretchy.)

2. Fold rectangle in half.

3. Cut starting on the fold to within a 1/4 inch or so of the end.

4. Round corners of the non-folded end, with scissors.

5. Unfold-and there you have a looper.

Hope you can understand these instructions!☺

T-shirt potholder

T-shirts from the 29 cent rack at Goodwill.
I cut out 2 1/2 x 6 inch rectangles to make "loopers". Then I made a potholder with my loom like when I was a kid. The loopers were pretty thick, so I placed them on every other tine.
Voilá a potholder. By my calculations I'll need 24 of these to make a rug. Wish me luck.☺

I followed the instructions to make the loopers on the Craftsanity website.