Playing....

Nothing much is happening here.

Cleaning.

Laundry.

Boring stuff.

So I thought that I would play a bit.

With dishes.

So I recreated my table for Easter brunch.

Ta daa!

My husband was surprised that I went with green for it. I am not a lover of the green color.

The centerpiece....blah blah blah.... you've seen that before.

These are my "good" dishes. I bought them about 12 years ago.

They are just simple white porcelain dishes with a 14kt gold trim from Target. The tablecloth and napkins are new from Joann Fabrics. I like the little cutout edging.

Originally I was planning on doing the table in yellow and purple. It was cause of this idea that I didn't. I looked EVERYWHERE for egg cups! I had just about given up until I found these at of all places, Joann Fabrics! Unfortunately they only had green left.

Hence, the new green tablecloth and napkins.

And no, I am not clever, I got this idea from Yvonne at Stone Gable! She is the clever one, I am just a copy cat!

These cute little shakers I got at the same time as the dishes. I think I found them at Marshall's. The glasses were given to me by my MIL. She received them as a wedding gift. There is also a pitcher that goes with them.

So there it is. My recreation of my Easter Brunch tablescape. Kinda bare, but lots of room for food! Cause we are eaters!

I promise that I will get better at this tablescaping stuff!

Posted at BNOTP Tablescape Thursday

Foufy Pillows!

I made these last week in anticipation of Make It 4 Monday.

I only got one done though.

Hmmmph!

I guess I know what I will be doing tonight!

I am talking about the ones at the back.

Believe it or not, the bed is made!

We had these pillow inserts on our bed before. Yes, I have turned my hubby into a pillow tramp.

Seems he likes all the pillows.

It is great getting in bed with all the pillows!

I just cut the front piece the same size as the euro insert and the back is two pieces overlapped.

The fabric came out of the fabric pile. The ruffle I made out of a sheer. It's ruffled 2-1/2 times the size of the pillow with seams at the corners.

Sew it all together and voila! A new pillow for the bed!

Now for a pretty little toss pillow for the center.

Maybe next Monday.....

Posted at Cottage Instincts Make It 4 Monday

Happy Easter!

Here is hoping that your day is filled with love, laughter and lots of chocolate!

Happy Easter to you and your loved ones!

Squeezing Out One Last One!

Before the egg coloring, the egg hunt, the baking and cooking for tomorrow I managed to squeeze out one more Easter project.

I bought some wooden eggs from Joann Fabrics the other day. I also used some silver and brown paint, a paint brush and an egg carton.

I painted the eggs silver one half at a time using the egg carton for a holder and palette.

When they were dry, I brushed on some brown paint with a very wet sponge brush. Then I took a wet paper towel to blot some off.

And....

Faux mercury eggs for the Easter brunch table!

Really quick and easy!

Posted at Tatertots and Jello's Weekend Wrap Up Party!

Easter Treats!

As I've said before, my SIL does Easter dinner.

She requested if we did baskets for her 2 girls, not to do too much.

So this year I got inventive!

I bought 2 terra cotta pots and put plastic bags in them....

...and filled them with potting soil and tied it up.

I hope the girls wanted potting soil for Easter!

I dug through my scrapbooking junk and made a tag with their names and stuck it to a skewer.

Then I stuck it in the pot.

Dressed up the pot with more scrapbook paper and tissue paper. Added a chocolate bunny, jelly beans and a pansy. The pansy they can plant in the soil in the bottom of the pot.

I just love this idea of planting the pansies in an eggshell! How fun is that?

I "borrowed" the idea from Yvonne at Stone Gable.

In fact, I am using it for my table setting on Easter morning for brunch.

I have one more cute little Easter project. I am hoping to have it done and posted tomorrow.

I do hope that everyone and their families have a Blessed Easter!

Posted at Funky Junk Interiors SNS Party!

Posted at Tater Tots & Jello Weekend Wrap Up Party!

Donna at Funky Junk is also having a giveaway this week! Go check out the cute apron you could win!

Daisy Cottage Giveaway!

Kim at Daisy Cottage had a giveaway a couple of weeks back.

Guess who won?!

Yup, me!

It came on Brianna's birthday. The box was so tempting I had to stop cleaning and cooking for the party to open it.

You should know how hard it is to distract me from cleaning!

Inside were many delights!

First, this magazine that I have yet to stop drooling over. Kim even has 4 articles that she wrote and took pictures for in here! She is as talented as she is generous! The sweet little card with a drawing of Miss Maggie, her dachsund. The pretty fan dish, perfume bottle and pin. The fan dish and perfume bottle are on my vanity next to my bed. Every time I see them it makes me smile to know there are such wonderful people out there.

I have an idea what I am going to do with the broach that I got out of one of her articles.

This pretty wooden platter that is on the bookcase with my cookbooks and scale.

The lovely egg that is sitting in my daffodils on my kitchen table.

A beautiful tin with 50 $1.00 bills that I had to promise to spend on something that I absolutely love.

Isn't she the best?

Thank you so much Kim! I love it all!

Even though Kim is on a bit of a break right now, you should pop on over and visit.

You won't be disappointed!

It All Started So Simple

So there I was catching up on blogs.

Trying at all costs to avoid doing any laundry or cleaning.

And then....

Oooohhhhh! What's THAT?!

I like those!

So I found some cording I had and waited patiently for 2 rolls of toilet paper to be used.

Blah, who am I kidding! I am waaaay to impatient for that. I dug through the trash!

I did everything like in the tutorial trying to keep my burns to a minimum. I didn't use jute cause I didn't have jute. This is the same cord that I used on my door hanger thingy. It's a 4mm macrame type cord.

Ta da! 8 cutesy little napkin ring holders!

Kinda plain though....

....so I glued on some white buttons to dress them up. This is the only thing that I did different. She made her embellishments removable to swap them out. I'm too lazy to do that though.

Houston we have a problem!

I don't own ANY cloth napkins to use in my cutesy napkin rings. Taco Bell paper napkins just don't look right in them either!

So I made some of them too!

I dug around in my fabric pile formerly known as my fabric bin which has overflowed the bin and is now a pile!

I made 8 stripey napkins for the 8 cutesy napkin rings.

Don't say you can't make napkins either. Yvonne at Stone Gable did a fantastic tutorial on making napkins. She also included all you non sewers too! Isn't she the best?!

Now we have a new problem....

....NO TABLECLOTH!

Argh! I have been seeing these all over blogland and now is the perfect excuse to make one!

To the fabric pile!

It's amazing the amount of junk I have squirreled away! Including the 10 yards of unbleached muslin that I used to make this.

I didn't use all 10 yards, just 2 1/2 yards.

Now with my everyday Pier One dishes that I love. My kids kept on breaking just one dish out of the sets I kept on buying. My husband also read on the internet that stoneware dishes leach lead into food when it is warmed from even setting hot food on them. My oldest did poorly in school and was taking medication for ADHD. I picked these dishes cause you buy them individually. So if one breaks you don't have to get rid of the whole set. They are also porcelain.

A year later and we have taken my daughter off the meds and she now is a A and B student. Even on the student council.

Anyways.... now I need a centerpiece.

Hmmm....

She is such a ham! I just plopped some mini daffodils in my soup tureen and covered up the dirt and shopping bags that I used to hold it in place.

There! My first tablescape.

To everyone who wish Brianna a happy birthday, thank you! She was just all smiles reading your responses. Know that....

That is also a little sneak peek at the giveaway I won and will tell you all about tomorrow!

Posted at Bobbypinsboardwalk Bragfest

Posted at Between Naps On The Porch

Posted at A Silly Little Sparrow's Toot Your Horn Tuesday

My first

She has done so much for me.

She made me a mommy....

She has taught me how to just play even though there may be work to be done.

She has taught me that even though they may get hurt, I have to let them go. But I will always be there to catch them.

She has brought much joy to me....

....and her handsome daddy.

She is growing so fast. This year she can't wait to drive.

I told her "Sweet Pea, the Barbie car is yours. You can drive it anytime!"

I am not sure that is quite what she meant though.....

Happy 14th Birthday Brianna!

Love, Mom, Dad, Jeffrey and Syrina

This and That

When I was younger, I had a pen pal. We wrote each other faithfully every week. I would get so excited when I saw a letter from her and looked forward to writing to her.

Now there is email.

No one uses the snail mail anymore to correspond.

Buuuut......

Deborah at the Fairfield House has a great project going on. She is asking for a postcard from each state. When she gets one from every state there is to be a drawing. The winner will receive a little care package in the mail.

You can also exchange postcards with other participants. She just added that feature to it since it has become so popular.

I'm doing the Michigan postcard.

Do you know how hard it is to find a postcard? I thought it would be kinda easy.

Not!

So I am off in search of some postcards!

But, do you know what I do have?!

Disney pics!

My new house!

See, it even comes with "that" blue!

The girls on the carousel

Me and the kids on the flying carpet ride. Note to self: DO NOT LET THE BITTY ONE CONTROL THE CARPET! SHE WILL MAKE YOU SICK!

The kids and Chip and Dale.

And.....

Me and the two oldest with my main man Donald Duck!

I love that Duck! I've liked him since I was young. This time that we went I was bound and determined to get my pic with him. We walked all over looking for him.

Don't say it is just a guy in a duck costume either!

I do have some more of the girls and the princesses and the fairies. I have to send them to my hubby's phone and have him save them to his puter and then email them to me.

Or buy a phone card for my pics.

Either way, they are still on my phone.

I suck.

But I will have some more projects for ya. I am hoping to have the one from this weekend that started off small done. Why is it that the simplest ones are the ones that snowball?

Well Duhhhh....

Did you know I have two entrance doors?

Yeah!

I imagine that!

You know when we were looking at this house, one of the features that I fell in love with was the front door.

It's a 15 panel glass door.

Poor girl has gotten ignored though.

This year I plan on prettying it up.

For now though, it is often forgotten. Everyone who comes over uses the back door. There is no walk up to it either.

So.....

I wonder if I took some leftover flowers and twiney stuff....

....snipped them off the main stem and hot glued the ends to keep them all together.....

....bunched them all together and tied them up with florist wire what that would do?

Maybe make a loop to hang it by....

and wrap it around glueing it every now and then.

Uh oh, how am I ever going to cover up those ends?

Maybe a small piece of muslin rubberbanded around them?

Then I could keep on wrapping to cover the rubberband. Finish it off at the back under the loop.

Hmmm....

I wonder if that would make her feel less ignored?

A good paint job might also!

Shameless as I am I posted two entries at the uber coolishushness Cindy's Make it 4 Monday!