HAPPY BIRTHDAY ....

Girl Child turned 14 yesterday !!!! Am I the only mother who gets emotional when my children's birthdays come around?  I've done it since both of their first birthdays, I just can't help it !!!!
We had a lovely family day, just the four of us, doing activities of her choosing.
Gifts were opened on waking up .... Lunch was enjoyed while paying MUCH attention to one of the above mentioned gifts ....

After the 21/2 hours we spent in the AT&T store sorting out this new toy (ok, so we upgraded our long overdue phones too), we felt she deserved a little "play" time.
We ran a few more errands - mostly birthday related, and then it was home to enjoy some birthday cake. Her cake of choice this year ...... A strawberry dinosaur cake !!! I love that she is old enough (and interested enough) now, that we can make and decorate her cake together.

I must apologise for the icky pictures, but he was suprisingly difficult to photograph. I had never worked with fondant before (there's a first time for everything!!!) It wasn't as difficult as I'd anticipated it would be though :-)
I love his cute little head and face, she sculpted it all by herself.
But of course, no birthday is complete without something handmade ...... meet Spot, the stripey Birthday Monster !!!

Looking back at the pictures now, it looks like we intentionally had a purple and green color scheme going on - this happened by chance !! Girl Child chose the cake colors the day before her birthday, and Spot has been on my knitting needles for a while ..... he was a pick up and knit a few rows type project, between other projects, that she knew nothing about.

So all in all, it was a lovely day, for a lovely young lady, who we are extremely proud of.
Happy 14th Birthday Sweet Girl ...... We love you tons XXX

LITTLE MISS, WHAT SHALL WE CALL HER ....

Hello everyone, and welcome to my little corner of Blogland - thanks for stoping by for a visit :-)

Over the past few weeks, another little, knitty being has been under construction. Today I knitted the last few stitches, and put her together, and here she is !!!! I'm not sure of her name yet ..... I'm still thinking about that - any suggestions anyone?

She is another pattern from Rebecca Dangers Book, and as always there were new things to learn while making her. This time it was knitting using the Magic Loop Method. Honestly, not my favorite, but perhaps I just need to practice it a little more. These little feet just tickle me pink .... her chubby, little toes are so very endearing :-)

I also had a go at knitting stitches mid row onto scrap yarn, and then comming back later to pick them up, and continue knitting with them .... this is how her legs were knitted onto her feet. Very clever !!!!

She will be taking a little visit somewhere soon (more about that at a later date), but she will eventually come home. Girl Child has already laid claim to her :-)

Texas is roasting at the moment ..... sweltering, sticky, just plain yukky !!! Hope you're enjoying your weather wherever you are. Until next time ..... Toodles !!!!

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 !!!!