MY INSPIRATION BOARD ....

My craftroom redo is almost complete ..... I just have 2 decorative things to get done, and then I can reveal all !!! It has been so much fun redoing it ...... my perfectly, pretty, creative space !!!!
I do want to show you the inspiration board I made - I'm so happy with how it turned out. Hubby hung it up for me this afternoon, so we're in business.
I got the black frame at Hobby Lobby for 90% off !!!! I don't think I've ever scored such a great bargin. I cut foam board to fit the aperture and covered it with cork. I then staple gunned (I just had to use that thing) the fabric to the foam board. Another layer of foam board slotted into the aperture,and I taped it all down with Gorilla Tape ...... Hey Presto - A cute inspiration board !!!

It needed a bit of prettyfying (I know, not a real word, but perfect for this purpose!!!) Bunting is just so cheerful :-)
I crocheted up a few flowers .... the patterns came from a variety of different sources. I added some cheerful colored buttons, and they were complete.
I have some pretty, pink push pins to use on it too .....
Pink .... bunting .... flowers ...... these things all make my heart skip a beat !!!!
  

A MEETING OF BLOGGY FRIENDS ....

Today was such a fun day, a real treat ........ I met up with a blog friend !!!!
Jill and I were partnered in an apron swap about 3 years ago. We've been partners in other swaps since then, and have kept in regular contact. Lucky for me, she's on vacation only 40 minutes from where we live ........ definately too good an opportunity to miss :-)
We had a lovely lunch and visit ...... she spoilt us so. She also has the cutest daughter !!!

Thanks Jill for taking time out of your vacation to meet me for lunch - I'm so glad we did. Hopefully we can do it again one day soon :-)

Of course I didn't want to go empty handed .... here's what I made and gave to Jill.

 

I knitted her a frilly scarf .... a varigated black, white and grey one.

I made her a set of owly notecards - I used the owl images from 2 of my Cricut cartridges (Paisley and From The Nest)
I popped both of these gifts into a gift box I made ...

I used the Card Making Companion that my mom left here for me .... thanks Mom, I use it soooo often :-) This time I used a plain black cardstock for the box base, and I then Modge Podged a patterned sheet of owl paper to the cardstock for the lid. I then finished it off with some ribbon. I love that I can make my own gift boxes in any size I need in 5 minutes flat using this tool (and they turn out perfectly every time) !!!
No gift is complete without a handmade card to finish it off. So ...

I have used this owl stamp so often - I really love the simplicity of it. The sparkly fiber was some that Mom and I bought at the GASC ..... we did get it in every color they had!!!!

Meeting new friends has most certainly been the best part of writing this blog for me. Thanks again Jill .... it has definately been one of the highlights of my summer.

MINT, MONSTERS AND MORE ....

Hello lovely visitors, hope you're having a fabulous day !!!!
As the title of this post indicates, we've been up to a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, in our household. The hot, lazy summer days, are well underway, and we're spending a fair amount of our time, just trying to stay cool - although in saying that, we don't have those crazy, hot mercury readings that our northern neighbors are experiencing. I feel for them, we had it last summer, and it was just awful !!!

A fair amount of time is still being spent in the kitchen ..... someone please explain how 3 dozen cookies can disappear in less than 24 hours .... crazy stuff !!! We must have a resident Cookie Monster (or 3 !!!)
I went ahead and made my mint jelly over the weekend ...... green perfection !!!

There is something so satisfying about preparing the "juice" to make jelly .... Julia Childs, move aside !!!!

An hour or so along in the process, and look (at this point I may have actually squealed) ... clear, green, mint jelly !!! Now we just need to keep an eye out for a reasonably priced leg of lamb (why oh why, is lamb so horribly expensive !!!), and the process will be complete - roast leg of lamb with mint jelly ............ yummy yumminess :-)

And just in case you thought that crafting of any kind had taken a backseat to all things culinary, this should reassure you otherwise ...

Look at those chubby, little toes :-) Another monster is in the works ... there were some new techniques to be learned in this pattern. Precisely why I love Rebbeca Danger's patterns soooo much. They allow you to learn new techniques on small pieces. It helps too, that she explains things so clearly:-)
The reorganizing of my craft space is underway - It's probably 75% complete, and looking quite marvelous, if I say so myself. Tonight hubby will be hanging some storage stuff on the walls for me, and by the end of the weekend, I'm hoping to be finished. I want to make pretty little curtains for the windows (I have the fabric I want to use picked out), but this part is going to have to wait a little while. I will share pictures with you, when it is all done.

Wishing you all a fun filled weekend ...

JUST JAMMIN !!!

There's been a whole lot of that going on in my kitchen of late. One of the best things about summer for me, is the abundance of fruit. I like to tuck some away, so that when we're deep in the gloominess of winter, and all you have to choose from is bananas and oranges, we have a little of summer's yuminess to indulge in.
Our Walmart had mangoes on sale for 25c each last weekend - that is a steal !!! Armed with 2 big bags filled with them, I scoured the web to find a mango jam recipe ..... after all Mr Smucker developed one, so there had to be one out there !!! Well there was, and I set about making some mango jam. YUM is all I have to say .... absolutely delicious !!!

Next up, on a trip to Tom Thumb, I found some plums on sale. I had planned to make plum jam last summer, but just never got around to it - time to rectify that. After much chopping, bubbling and stirring, I made 8 jars of delicious plummy goodness. Just look at that color ..... it makes me smile :-)

Next up I think is going to be some mint jelly. We love to eat it with roast lamb - Yummy !!!
Now, the best way to enjoy the fruits of your labor .... well, in my opinion, it has to be these ...

Freshly homebaked, warm out of the oven scones. Served on my pretty china ... Ahhh Bliss !!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIFTS ....

Oh, I am quite miserable today !!!! A visit to the dentist this morning, has left me with a mouth that feels like it had a go around with a jack hammer .... what a wonderful discovery Aleve is :-)

My Mother-In-Law turns 80 tomorrow - quite a milestone birthday, I'm sure you'd all agree. I thought I'd show you what I made for her ...

Using these artist canvases (readily available at Hobby Lobby), I created this ....

A keepsake album, full of family pictures. It is lovely and sturdy, and stands up easily - book style. I can't take credit for the idea, my mom and I saw an album like this when we attended the Great American Scrapbook Convention in June. I do love how it turned out, and I hope she likes it too.

I also knitted her one of my frilly scarves (like I made for end of year teacher gifts). I thought I'd taken a picture to show you, but it seems I didn't.

Her birthday card was also handmade using a tutorial I found on line. It's called a cascading card ..... boy, does it have so many embellishment possibilities .... The blog I got it from stempeleinmaleins.blogspot.com is well worth a visit. It has some fabulous ideas.

The bottom picture, gives you a better idea of how it all pops together. I used my trusty Cricut to cut out the gnome, flowers, grass and clouds, which I then arranged to make my "picture".

Happy 80th Birthday Mom !!!!

THE GRADUATE ...

We had one this year - Boy Child graduated from Elementary School. While this is no big deal really, and in our case, the Middle School he will be going to is only across the field from the Elementary School, these are still milestones in the lives of my children, and I feel very strongly, that they need to be celebrated, remembered .... and scrapbooked about.

Boy Child on his last day of Elementary School.



 I made Girl Child an amigurumi owl, complete with grauation cap when she graduated Elementary 2 years ago. Now, Boy Child had long admired the monsters I knit ...... Sad but true, I have knitted many of those monsters, but none of them have ever been for my own children :-( Well, I rectified that ..... please meet, The Graduate !!!!

Cute, isn't he. He has the cutest little top knot under that graduation cap. I left off his mouth, as Boy Child finds some of the mouths on his soft toys a little scary. It works though, as the flecked colors in the yarn, make him look like he has a little smile on his face:-)

We've had a lovely, lazy summer so far. The Texas heat has returned, but so far we're managing to keep out of it. Hope you're enjoying your summer, wherever you may be.

BACK AGAIN .... AT LAST !!!!

Blogger, oh Blogger - why did you have to make those changes? I have struggled for weeks now with the new format, unable to create any new posts  ..... tonight Hubby came to the rescue. Gosh, that man is my hero:-)
Well, the school year has come and gone - this year was particularly emotional for me, as this chapter of our lives that was Elementary School is now over, and I'm officially the mom of two Middle Schoolers .... YIKES !!!!
The end of any school year brings about the need for Teacher gifts. This year, being our last, meant that I needed to come up with more gifts that usual ..., the school nurse and office staff have seen our family through 8 years of Elementary.
So, for the Office Staff and Specials (Music, PE, Library) teachers, I made these cute little Gift Card box cards. They're a little fiddly to make, but are so worth the time.

Next up, was the teachers who had taught Boy Child during his time at Elementary. For these sweet ladies, I found a paper pack at Target, that had 565 paper flower pieces in it. It allowed me to group different paper pieces, and create a lovely big paper flower. To these I attached some florist wire and leaves, and finished each flower off by attaching a Starbucks Gift Card.



My mom has been visiting us from South Africa for the past 21/2 weeks. It has been a treat having her here. Sadly she leaves us on Saturday to go home. She brought myself and Girl Child a wonderful scarf each, that she had knitted. I'd never seen anything like it. A visit to Hobby Lobby and a quick lesson from mom (and her help too, in getting 7 scarfs knitted in under a week !!!), meant my teacher gifts were done.

Aren't they just so super cute !!! They're light enough to be worn from Fall through to Spring, but still do a great job of keeping you warm, when it's cold outside. They are so much fun to knit up too ..... did I mention quick ....

This is what they look like while they're being knitted. The next decision to be made - How to wrap them? To me this is one of the most important part of gift giving. I decided to make and decorate matching boxes ..... again using a handy dandy paper crafting tool, that mom had asked me to order for her ...



So now the long lazy days of summer are ahead of us .... I plan on tackling a few big projects, as well as some smaller ones. The biggest project of all though, will be the revamping of my craft space .... curtains, shelves, and just generally my hope is to create a far more organized space.
I'm so glad to be back in Blogland - I've missed it!!!
Until next time, enjoy your summer, and thank you so much for stopping by:-)