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Tea Please!

Happy Almost Turkey Day!

I thought I would take a minute and make a post today before being swallowed by all the Christmas boxes that I have out.  Wow, I always forget how many boxes there are.  I usually get started with the decorations around Thanksgiving, but since I am hosting my family Christmas this year I decided to start a couple days early.  I always pack away all of the "knick knacks" that I have (everywhere).   The one area I never have decorated is a china cabinet that I have in my kitchen.

This cabinet is one of the many things that made me fall in love with this house 17+ years ago.

I thought it would be nice this year to change things up.  This is where I had my teapots and I still love my them but I think next year they will be hanging off my fence at the back of the yard with flowers in them.  I am just ready for some changes!  I can still enjoy them out there and have this cabinet for other things too!

BUT, before I pack them away I thought that I would show you some of my little beauties.  This is not all of them as I have another box somewhere of others.  But these are the ones that I had on display.

These two sets came one from my Mom and one from my MIL.

A couple that I bought at a garage sales.

I love these mini ones!  The two really smalls are wood (actually ornaments from an Easter tree decoration that I have) and the Victorian Lady is glass and she opens at the waist.  The trivets are ones I made years ago.

The Red, white and blue one is from my sister and the roses set is another garage sale beauty.

I bought both of these sets (different places) new.  The brown set is one of my favorites 

I LOVE this white set!  Its another garage sale find, but the shape and design just caught my eye.

The other set is a teapot from my Mom and the cups are from my MIL.  The cups actually came from Japan with her when she married my FIL.

:o) 

In the spring when I dig out the other box of teapots I will post pics of those too, and hopefully pics of them with flowers and hanging on my fence!

A couple more quick pics.  When I was setting up my Fall Deco, I didn't do close up pictures of a couple things that I think a few of you might like to see.

This little witches hat I made out of tiny little brooms

This is my book pumpkin that I made last year...I made the back of mine flat so that it can rest against a wall.

This GORGEOUS needlepoint cornucopia my Mom made years ago.  I was thrilled to get to hang it up with my fall decorations this year.  She has such a talent!

This is the last thought I will leave you for today....

I made MANY and sold many of these over the years.

But I still believe it to be true!

That's it for me today.  I hope that you are all surrounded with Love, Family, Friends and good food tomorrow.  Be safe in your travels!

(and remember to RECYCLE those plates and tin pans!)

Pinspiration: Snack Bandoliers

Hello world!

Thought I would post today what I just finished up this morning.  My Sister-in-law showed me a pin of some snack bandoliers and wanted to know if I would be willing to let her use my sewing machine (with a bit of help) to make them.  She doesn't sew a lot but has basic skills and just needed a little backup.  She mentioned a sewing machine that she has...but said something about it being in a closet waaaaaaay at the back.  LOL

Needless to say I jumped at the chance to spend time with her and to have a fun project to work on!  Especially one for little boys!  Being the Mom of girls, little boy things aren't something I have made for years.  When my nephews were little I made Halloween costumes for them and enjoyed every moment but that was 20+ years ago.

So I happened to have some great boy fabric that I offered up for her to use and we got started. We got a bit of a late start, and snow was moving in so we didn't quite finish them that day and I offered to finish them up this morning.  One more project completed!  Woot! I wont go thru all the steps as you can find them on the link I will provide.  We did do one thing differently, by adding some elastic to the bottom of them making them able to "grow" with the child.

We made two (for twin boys)

Little Missy was gracious enough to be my model

Pj's and all lol

As you can see the cars fit great and have room in the bottom for snacks!

This was a fun project and I would recommend it to anyone.

Now to get started on a girly one to give Little Missy for Christmas.

Ours will be the right size to hold Barbies and PINK!

Here is the link to the website with the instructions:

http://whip-stitch.com/snack-bandolier/

On a side note, I am so tickled to say that I have now 401 followers on Pinterest!  

I am not sure that I should be so excited but I am.

So many people that have the same interests is thrilling to me!

Thanks to all who stop to check out my corner of the world.

Until next time be safe in all you do, and hold good thoughts for those caught in that horrible weather this past weekend.

Oh what a Beautiful Morning...

Oh what a beautiful day...

I have this beautiful feeling...

Everything's going my way!

As I woke up this morning that was the song that popped into my head.  I remember in middle school choir singing that.  Frankly at that age I didn't care for the song, but now pushing 50 I totally get it LOL.  Here in Illinois we are getting a couple cooler days and the leaves are finally starting to change.  Fall has always been my favorite time of year and this year is no different.  Though I have this sneaking feeling that it it preceding a bad winter...but for today I refuse to think about it!

As I sit here I am enjoying a nice hot cup of Spiced Tea.  This is a drink that I remember my mom getting the recipe for when I was in my teens.  I haven't had it for YEARS.  I mentioned to her the other day that I could really go for a cup and she of course had the recipe still.  My Mom ROCKS.  So today I share with you a fall treat I hope that you enjoy it as I am right this moment.

Spiced Tea

1/3 Cup Lemonade Mix

1/2 Cup Instant Tea

1 Cup Tang

3/4 Cup Sugar

1/4 Teaspoon Cloves

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight container.

Add 1-1/2 to 2 Tablespoons per boiling cup of water or to your 

personal taste.

A couple notes here.

I doubled this recipe and it fit perfectly into a 1 Liter container.

I found a 2T. coffee scoop and use that to leave in the mix.

I also used UNsweetened tea.  I just felt that with the other ingredients

there was enough sugar already involved.

YUMMY!

Time to make some pumpkin bread lol.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One more addition to this post today.  I have spent a lot of time perusing the Autumn Decoration Boards on Pinterest (and loving every minute of it!)  I kept seeing these adorable crocheted pumpkins and knew that I had to give it a try.  So today I bring to you my version!

These were sooooo fun to make!  I am working on another set with some multi color and thinking I might add some raffia to these.  I didn't look for a tutorial but I am sure that there were some out there.  I tend to just kinda wing it most of the time and use the pictures as inspiration.  I am adding a couple links that inspired me!  Or check out my Autumn board on Pinterest.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/256775616227891621/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/256775616227891510/

Well fellow travelers that's it for today.  Gotta get my fanny in gear here and get ready to take Mom to her Dr's appointment.  Glad that I had a moment to share with you all and I hope that I brought a smile to at least one face.  Blessings to each and every one of you.

New Post to celebrate Autumn! YAY!

Well, just over a  year since I have posted and my life has changed so much.  Last I posted I was getting ready for a craft show and never made it.  It came about that my Mom could no longer live alone and so I stopped working on crafts and pretty much everything else and started remodeling (with the help of family and hubby) 3 rooms of our house to make a "mini apartment" for my Mom.  Here I am just over a year later after many visits to the ER, a crash course in Medicare (holy moly) Nursing homes and Hospitals later and thrilled to say that my Mom is on the mend and doing awesome!  Well enough that I have time to do a few of the things that I was doing previous to her moving in.  She will be 82 in December and absolutely is an inspiration to me personally.  Its a great joy to have her here and to have her get to know her littlest granddaughter better.  Bless her heart she has really handled having a 4 year old under foot constantly like a champ!  Of course I am the youngest of 6 so...she had a clue to start with. lol

So today I wanted to share with the world at large some of the Autumn decorations that I have put together. Some are inspired by Pins on Pinterest (thats one thing I have managed to do this past year!) and some are just my own.  None the less I wanted to share and show.

I will be trying to get back more often now that things are settling down...but we still average about 2 doctor visits a week and time just escapes me.  But I do promise it wont be a year!

Please enjoy and Happy Autumn to you all!

This is the Buffet in my dining room.

Below are some closer views of a few of the things on it

Top left of the Buffet.  I love using corn, so natural looking.

This is my Autumn Girl.   I used to make these girls for craft shows.  

The grasses are out of my yard mixed with some dried flowers.

Love the way it turned out!

The middle section of the Buffet.

The bottle at the top right is old, was some sort of medicinal type bottle.

bottom left is the pumpkin that I cut out of a book last year, that was sooo fun to make!

Just to the right of the pumpkin is my lantern, have had that for years and on Pinterest the other day 

I saw that people were filling them with pinecones, so naturally I had to too! 

Lower shelves, just a couple pretty baskets.

The shelf on the wall opposite my Buffet.

The dust pan is probably 50 years old from my Great Uncles hardware store, it was

just screaming for some dried flowers.  The plates are one of my fall favorites, a gift from my Sister.

My Halloween girl, all decked out for the Halloween Ball.  I so look forward to putting her and the

Autumn girl out each year.  You would never believe how many of these I sold at craft shows! 

They were so fun to design, each one a bit different.

My very ugly front door that needs redone but the pretty wreath that my Mom made!

Broom corn!  I love this stuff!  My future son in law's family grows this and each year he brings me some.

I just love it.

Well thats it for today, tho I still have a couple things I am working on and when time allows I will get them posted.  Thanks to all that stop by to visit my itty bitty part of the internet.

Blessings to each of you.

Braided Rugs

Good morning!

We have a lovely sunny morning here and since my thumb and middle finger are numb from sewing, I thought I would take a break from crazy crafting and make a post.  :)

I also have a peek at what I have been working on for my upcoming craft show that I am participating in, in October.

In trying to figure out what to make for this show, I decided to tackle cleaning out my fabric closet.  Let me tell you that was a process!  Our house has looked like a fabric bomb went off in it for several weeks.  What a job that was.  I literally have one full closet full of fabric.  All of it had been shoved in to boxes and shoved in to the closet and none of it was organized.  UGGG

 Now though every type of fabric has its own box (or boxes in some cases lol) so 

when I open the closet I no longer scream and close the door quickly.  :)

While cleaning out the closet, I found that I have enough polyester to clothe my Mom's retirement community. Hmm what to do with it all?  Braided rugs... that's what!

I made one of these years ago for myself and I love it.  They are durable and feel good on your tootsies when you walk on them.  Its a lot of work and my fingers are in pain but I get more excited the further I get and just had to show it off a little.  I will post a pic when done.  The outside edge will be the dark purple and it should measure out to about 3x3...I think.  

I hope that where ever you are in the world that your day is a good one, filled with Love, Laughter and Friends/Family and Good Health!

I will post again when the rug is done (hopefully in the next day or so.)

<3 to all!

Monogram letters...mostly :)

Greetings to all!

We have an overcast day here, but thankfully have had just a tad of rain the last couple days.  At least enough to green up some of the grass.  So sad to look around and everything looks yellow and the poor farmers!  How they must be worrying.  Hopefully this is just one of those hot summers and next year things will be a bit more normal.

Before I get to the Monogram letter(s), I wanted to give a quick update.  

I have decided to do a craft show coming up in October.  I am so excited!  I haven't done a craft show in years...at least 16 years.  So needless to say life here in our house is a on overdrive.  Just wanted to let everyone know why I will be even more sporadic in my postings than so far.  I will try to pop in here and there to let you know what I am working on, but much of what I am doing I have already covered in earlier postings. 

That brings me to today's post!

All over Pinterst there are pins for Monogram Letters.  Oh my goodness there are TONS of them.  I will post a couple links but if you want more type in "monogram letters" to the search engine in Pinterest and you will be amazed.  There are so many varieties, its absolutely inspiring.  I wanted to give a try to one with my own touches.  :)

Here is the result:

I love Love LOVE the way it turned out!  I am a fan of blue jean and try to work it into most things I make.

I used a bit of ribbon woven in  (some easter ribbon that I had) to add some color here and there.  I can hardly wait to get it up on the wall!  It is going on a bright yellow wall so that blue jean will really pop!  I will add another picture later, but was too excited to wait.

Have you done any Letters?  If so how did you do yours?

I hope that you enjoyed seeing my creativity for today and I will be back as time and new things permit.

Here is a link for Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/search/?q=monogram+letters

Thanks for stopping by today!